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In the early hours of Thursday, Robert Simser discovered his electric wheelchair, his sole mode of transportation, was missing from his front yard.

At first, he said, he was hopeful some kids had taken it for a joyride and left it nearby. But after a search party investigated the area, the 59-year-old disabled man said he had to report the government-provided mobility aid missing to the police.

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“It’s one of the lowest things to steal — a man’s wheelchair,” he said.

The loss is more than just a mobility barrier to Simser. It was a lifeline.

“This is the only way I have to get outside,” he said. “I’m stuck in the house otherwise.I go to the food bank to get food … I have no way to get any food.”

Simser said he doesn’t normally keep the chair in the front of his house.

“Sometimes I have to leave it outside because I don’t have the strength or the help to bring it in,” he said.

Unfortunately, no one was able to assist him on Wednesday, so he left it on the front steps of his home.Simser said he knows it went missing between 2 and 4 a.m. Thursday.