Calgary boy heartbroken after skateboard ramp pinched from fake Kijiji ad
‘I feel violated that somebody would do this to my kids,’ says mom
A 10-year-old Calgary boy is trying to understand how someone could be so mean, after a fake Kijiji ad led to the theft of his beloved skateboard ramp.
A ramp his dad made for him.
"Most people don't have them, none of my friends have one so, it was pretty cool that I could do tricks on it that I wouldn't be able to do if I lived at another person's house," Jett Patola tells CBC News.
Jett's mom, Cindy Patola, says a friend sent her a strange text message.
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"She texted me and said, 'There is a picture of your house on Kijiji. Are you getting rid of your skateboard ramp?' I said no, and I went on Kijiji and saw the picture of our house and I couldn't believe that somebody would do that," Cindy recalls.
The ad, since taken down, was posted March 25 offering a ramp for free.
"First one here takes it. It's in the driveway," the ad stated.
The ramp was taken sometime over the weekend.
"It was pretty shocking, very shocking. We couldn't believe it," Cindy explained.
"I was worried for the safety of my kids, as they were outside playing with it, worrying that somebody was going to pull up and take it from them."
It's not the first time.
Cindy says another similar ad was posted to Kijiji last fall. She contacted Kijiji and it was taken down in a couple of days.
"It does make a noise, but it is no louder than a basketball bouncing on the pavement which happens on our street all of the time. Our street is full of kids playing outside, as they should," Cindy said.
"No one has ever complained about the noise."
Cindy says the incident has her wondering who could do such a thing to a child.
"There are a lot of people close by and we all kind of look out for each other but obviously there is one that we don't really know that is doing this. I don't know who else it would be. It has to be somebody close by," she said.
The family has filed a police report.
"They are going to investigate and more than likely find out who posted this and go from there," Cindy said.
Jett says he hopes the person who took the ramp will return it, no questions asked.
"I am kind of like sad and like mad because I was using it all of the time and now I can't use it at all," the boy said.
Jett's dad made it for Jett and his older brother.
"It took him a while to make so I don't know if he is going to want to make another one," Jett said.
With files from Kate Adach