Maui man standing strong after car, prosthetic legs stolen

HONOLULU (KHON2) -- A Maui man is still standing strong, even after his prosthetic legs were stolen.

His prosthetics were in his SUV, which was taken from right outside his home in Haiku.

Adaptive surfer Josh Bogle parks his Toyota outside his home in Haiku every night, but it was not there when he woke up on Saturday, July 27.

"At first I thought, 'Did I park the car somewhere different?' It just didn't make sense to me that someone would steal my car," Bogle said.

Bogle's car had been stolen and all of his adaptive gear and his prosthetic water legs that he uses to surf were in it. He became a quad-amputee in 2018 and has traveled the world to compete in adaptive surfing competitions.

"In essence, surfing is not only my career, but it is the vehicle that saved my life," Bogle said.

Maui police found Bogle's car a few days later -- it had been stripped of its license plates and had a damaged transmission. All of Bogle's belongings were gone.

A close friend started a GoFundMe to help raise the money for Bogle to replace his legs and gear and said vehicle theft is not an isolated incident.

"This is a huge problem on Maui, right now. Like, Josh is probably like the fifth person I know who has had their car stolen just this year," Nicole Lennox said.

Maui police said there has been a 17% increase in motor vehicle thefts so far in 2024 compared to the same time in 2023 and there has also been a 30% increase in suspects being arrested in connection to motor vehicle thefts. This one is just a bit too personal for Bogle.

"Two days of not having a car and as a quad amputee, not having your freedom to go fill up water jugs, or go to the gym," he said.

Bogle said the silver lining that he is finding is the outpouring of support from the community and the one personal belonging that the thieves left untouched.

"They did leave my handicap placard, which strangely enough, those are very hard to get," he said. "To live here in the Aloha State and to receive all this love and kindness from everyone, I just want to say thank you because I wouldn't know how to ask for it, but they just gave it right up front."

Click here for more information on how to support Bogle.