Man's prosthetic legs stolen in bizarre incident

A police investigation is under way after two teens allegedly removed and stole a 66-year-old man's two prosthetic legs early on Tuesday at his the West Englewood community home on the South Side.

At 12:20 a.m. Willbert Weeks contacted police to report that while he was lying in bed watching a show about volcanoes on the Discovery channel, two unknown offenders entered his room at his home in the 6500 block of South Laflin Street, according to a police report.

Weeks, 66, told police that at least one of the suspects struck him on the head with a black handgun and then pulled off his prosthetic legs and ran away, the report said.



Weeks said that a friend of his found his legs in the alley outside his home. The legs were undamaged, he said, and he planned to get out of town to visit a relative. "They him me in the head with a pistol, snatched my legs and ran out," he said.

The attackers, described as a male and a female between 15 and 18, also allegedly took Weeks' identification card before fleeing out a rear door of his residence and heading northbound down an alley, according to the report. Weeks refused medical treatment and suffered only a minor injury described as a bruise.

The handgun was not recovered and the two teens, both further described as being 5-foot and 110 pounds, were not in custody for the incident, which was classified as an armed robbery.