Teen girl's prosthetic leg stolen for second time

updated 9:38 a.m. ET Feb. 15, 2006

TEMPLE CITY, Calif. - For the second time in recent months, somebody broke into a 16-year-old girl’s home and stole her prosthetic leg — including one that had been donated following the first crime, authorities said.

The thieves took a $12,000 cosmetic leg and a donated $16,000 leg that Melissa Huff uses to play softball, her mother, Lisa Huff, said. She said a camera in the room was untouched.

“It’s insane. Who hates her that bad?” Lisa Huff said. “I went back to the girls’ room and the room was trashed. Mostly Melissa’s stuff.”

In the first theft, on Nov. 1, someone cut a hole in a window screen and also took video games and other items, authorities said. Her doctor and two real estate finance companies donated money for a new, shock-absorbent “sports leg” with a flexible foot.

On Tuesday, the thief pried open a screen window in the home, about 12 miles east of Los Angeles, said sheriff’s Sgt. Russell Sprague. He said authorities have no leads.

Melissa’s right leg was amputated two years ago after she was struck by a car. She resumed playing competitive softball after the accident and is now a high school sophomore.

“Now, she has nothing to walk with,” said her father, David Huff.

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