Police charge 2 women with taking veteran's walker

<p>Hours after two women were caught on camera taking an elderly veteran's walker, one of them apparently returned the item and apologized, saying the whole thing was a mix-up.</p>

News 12 Staff

Apr 4, 2018, 6:25 PM

Updated 2,375 days ago

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Hours after two women were caught on camera taking an elderly veteran's walker, one of them apparently returned the item and apologized, saying the whole thing was a mix-up.
Richard Dixon, a 75-year-old Navy veteran, said he left the walker outside the Black Forest Bakery in Lindenhurst around 8:40 a.m.
Surveillance video shows two women pass by, take the walker and leave.
Police later announced the arrests of Monica Newcombe, 22, and Heather Lauro, 42. They say they arrested Newcombe on Bristol Street in Lindenhurst around 5 p.m. They say Lauro, 42, also from Lindenhurst, surrendered herself at the First Precinct building in West Babylon.
"To sit there and steal a walker from anyone, but yet a veteran, someone who served our country, it's repulsive to me," said Thomas Lorch, the bakery owner.
The incident sparked outrage in the community after news began circulating on social media, and people donated replacement walkers -- one for Dixon and others for a charity for veterans.
A while later, one of the women returned with the walker to give it back. She said she didn't realize it belonged to anyone and was going to give it to her disabled mother.
"I truly apologize," she told News 12. "Because it's an awful thing to do."