As Jacob Wedge and his wife Tiffany were getting ready for a big move across town, thieves targeted an apartment complex garage filled with their moving boxes.
On Friday Wedge said they were packing up the boxes to move from their home at The Retreat at the Raven off Baseline Road and 40th Street to Chandler when they noticed the door to the garage where their moving boxes were stored was wide open.
Wedge noticed that a few boxes appeared to be missing. On Saturday, the movers came and transferred everything into their new home. While unpacking, Tiffany Wedge decided to hang up their framed wedding pictures and noticed the box was gone.
"It was an unusual box, different from the other ones. It had framed wedding photos, baby photos, my father's flag [and] a Teddy Bear," said Wedge.
Items that may have no monetary value, but huge sentimental value for the family.
"The flag was laid over the coffin of my dad when he died. I was just a teenager. That flag is huge for me. He earned it fighting in Vietnam. That flag was handed to me at his burial site, so it's extremely sentimental," said Jacob Wedge.
His father, James Wedge, served two tours in Vietnam.
Also in the stolen boxes, a Teddy Bear handmade by Tiffany Wedge's grandmother. It was for Wedge's brother who was fighting cancer. He held that Teddy Bear in the last days before his death.
Personalized Christmas ornaments and Halloween decorations were some of the other items in the missing boxes. Wedge said it appeared the thieves grabbed what they could and stuffed it in the back of a vehicle very quickly. He was surprised they left behind items of value like tools and bicycles.
Wedge said they contacted the VFW and were told they could replace the flag by purchasing a new one, but that did not hold sentimental value for him.
"What more can it symbolize than your dad that fought for the country at such a hard time?" asked Wedge.
He pleaded with the thief or thieves to have someone drop the flag and Teddy Bear off somewhere in the apartment complex where they took it, in a box labeled with his name, so staff could get them back to him.
Wedge left a note on the garage door of his old apartment complex saying #Returntheflag.
The Retreat at the Raven is located at 3606 E Baseline Rd.
