An Andalusia man was jailed Wednesday for stealing a family member’s wheelchair ramp and selling it for scrap.

Lt. Paul Dean with the Andalusia Police Department said 20-year-old Ladarius K. Jones is charged with first-degree theft of property after he allegedly took the ramp, valued at $7,000 and sold it to a local scrap yard.

“This thing was solid aluminum with hand rails,” Dean said of the ramp. “This story is sad on two fronts. First, that Mr. Jones stole a wheelchair ramp – which is bad – but that it was from a family member.

“Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, the ramp had been donated to a local church but they hadn’t come to pick it up yet,” he said.

Dean said officers were unable to recover the ramp as it had already been cut up by the time its location was discovered.

Jones was booked into the Covington County Jail and held on a $20,000 bond.

-Stephanie Nelson