STANDISH – Police have donated a new iPad to an autistic Standish toddler whose device was stolen recently while his family was at a funeral.

STANDISH – An autistic Standish toddler again has the ability to communicate with his mother through an Apple iPad, thanks to the generosity of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

An iPad, along with a Sony laptop and Apple iPod, were stolen Saturday, April 28, from 25 Cedar Drive in the Whites Bridge Road area of Standish while the family was at a funeral in Windham.

Kaitlynne Lindsey, whose 2-year-old son, Bryant Lindsey, has autism and is learning to communicate with the aid of the iPad, was devastated by the daytime burglary, especially since it happened on the day she buried her father, Vaughn Bryant. Bryant had served in law enforcement, as a state police dispatcher and as a member of the Windham and Standish fire-rescue departments.

“My dad had a lot of pride in his home and keeping it safe,” Lindsey said. “He really liked to help people and he really loved law enforcement, and to have someone come in on the day of his funeral is like a slap in his face. He’s not here anymore and you come in and violate his home? You steal from his grandkids? We were already going through a hard time losing him. He died here at home. But to come in here and steal from my kids, you’ve got to be lower than low.”

The mother said the iPad – which she bought three months ago after first using the iPod with her son – has been helpful, since it allows her son to learn visually.

“He’s learning sequencing, he sorts shapes and colors. He’s nonverbal, so we’re learning some sign language from it. The iPad really strengthens those skills, and since he’s started using the iPad, I’ve noticed his attention span has gotten longer,” Lindsey said.

She described the day when the items were stolen and her house broken into for the first time ever as one of the worst in her life. But Lindsey, who’s married, was buoyed in part after the burglary when the responding detective, Brian Ackerman, and Sheriff Kevin Joyce, split the cost of a new iPad 2 and delivered it promptly to her and her son. A collection taken up at the Cumberland County Jail last weekend, when news of the deed came to light at the sheriff’s office, netted several hundred dollars more. It was enough to replace Lindsey’s 19-year-old son Stephen’s stolen laptop, which he uses at college.

“Whoever did this, they stole from a grieving family. They didn’t know I had a freshman in college here or that my 2-year-old has autism, but the point is, when they got that iPad and turned it on, it’s all autism apps, it’s all toddler apps,” Lindsey said. “The good thing about it, though, an hour after coming to take the report Detective Ackerman came back with an iPad for my son. He and Sheriff Joyce replaced my son’s iPad. And they didn’t have to do that.”

Ackerman said he has run across a lot of sad circumstances in his 19 years in the department, but never one that pulled at his heart quite like this.

“It was just the right thing to do,” Ackerman said. “The family had an awful day that day. They had just come back from their loved one’s funeral and when they told me the story, they were more upset that their iPad had been stolen and that their 2-year-old used it to communicate with his mom, than the house being broken into. I just felt bad for the family and that that kid couldn’t communicate.”

According to Ackerman, he and Joyce split the cost of the $450 iPad 2. When jail employees heard about the story, they took up a collection in an attempt to reimburse Ackerman for his share. But he couldn’t accept the money and instead turned the money over to Lindsey, which she used to buy the replacement laptop for her older son.

“I was happy to do it. Have I ever done something like this before? No. But this kid just needed it, and that family just had an awful day,” Ackerman said.

Joyce, who said another deputy, Pete Anderson, bought new fishing gear in April for a 10-year-old boy in Harrison, whose new pole and tackle had been stolen, said Ackerman did the right thing and was glad to help contribute.

“He and I went halves with it, but it was all Brian’s idea,” said Joyce, a resident of Standish. “On the day it happened, Brian was working an overtime shift and he called me to ask whether we had a fund to help victims, and I said, no, not really. So he said, ‘Well, I just left this case and I’m taken back by the fact that there was a 2-year-old boy that was using an iPad to communicate with his family,’ and he said it breaks your heart because he can’t communicate without the use of it. So, I met him at the Walmart in Windham and he bought the iPad. He considered it an emergency.”

Joyce was disturbed by the nature of the crime. Joyce doesn’t see it as a random hit, but probably perpetrated by someone who knew the family would be out of the house.

“I think it’s somebody who knew there was a death in the family, so with that said, I think that’s a little slimy. The fact that the person now knows, because it’s been publicized, that one of the items belonged to a 2-year-old and it’s their only way of communicating, makes it extra slimy,” Joyce said.

Joyce and Ackerman are hoping for a break in the case and would appreciate the public’s help. They’re glad to have replaced the stolen items, but would be more proud to solve the case.

“I’d be even more happy if I can find the idiot who broke in there, but right now I don’t have any leads, unfortunately,” Ackerman said.

Kaitlynne Lindsey and her autistic 2-year-old son, Bryant Lindsey, use the new iPad 2 that local law enforcement bought when the family’s prior iPad was stolen. (Staff photo by John Balentine)