Just came across this extremely brief report at the tail end of an episode about a young man named Jon Carpenter who was a student at the University of Southern California and was victimized by a young black man named Joseph Collins. Apparently Carpenter was disabled following an accident and confined to a wheelchair. He hired Collins as an assistant. Some time later, Collins stole Carpenter's ATM card and withdrew $900 from the bank. He also stole Carpenter's van which cost $44,000 and had been custom built with wheelchair ramps, and extension pedals and brakes for Carpenter to drive with his disability. The van was eventually found abandoned, but it had been stripped down. That was pretty much it. This aired on the 2/16/94 episode and was very brief, probably 2-3 minutes. Does anyone remember seeing it or know if Collins was ever found?

Stealing from the disabled is truly an appalling and disgusting crime. I feel really bad for Jon Carpenter and hope he was able to recover his losses. Can't find squat about it online, but not too surprising since it's from vast California.

The ATM card is an interesting bit though. I'm assuming Carpenter gave permission for Collins to access his account as opposed to Collins just stealing it and demanding the PIN number. When a card is stolen, if it's reported soon enough, the account holder is only responsible for the first $50 or so. However, if Carpenter allowed Collins access to his account, I'm not entirely sure that rule would apply, so Carpenter may have been out the whole $900 there. It appears Carpenter didn't know Collins beforehand, and I'm a little surprised he was so trusting of him.

I recall the segment mentioned a trust fund had been set up for Jon, but it didn't mention how much.

I recall Stack also saying Joseph burglarized Jon's apartment, but didn't say what was stolen.

It's interesting to note Stack kept using the word "allegedly", so I wonder if there was some doubt to the whole thing.

It's interesting to note Stack kept using the word "allegedly", so I wonder if there was some doubt to the whole thing.

It probably had more to do with not wanting to make a judgment on Joe Collins' guilt or innocence until more information came to light.

It probably had more to do with not wanting to make a judgment on Joe Collins' guilt or innocence until more information came to light.

Right. I had just never noticed Stack doing it as much.

That being said, do you remember this one?

I did a ton of Googling after I first saw this story and came up with absolutely nothing. It appears that this case has truly fallen through the cracks. Although the "common" nature of the names of all parties involved doesn't help matters either.