Veteran awaiting transplant is car prowl victim

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Navy veteran and his wife were the victims of car prowlers who stole vital belongings.

Troy and Deanna Moore parked their car along Kingston Road between the Oregon Zoo and the International Rose Test Garden while they visited the garden with family on August 3.

“It looks safe up there,you know?” Troy said. “You don’t think of it as a high crime neighborhood.You don’t think ‘oh, my car is likely to get broken into here.'”

When they returned to their car, Troy and Deanna found windows smashed and their belongings gone. The Moores say the prowler got away with about $5,000 worth of stuff including travel bags, tablets and medications.

Troy needs a double organ transplant, and is always waiting for a call about a new kidney and pancreas. If they get that call, the Moores need to be ready to get to the airport within 30 minutes.

“You just feel really violated and it’s hurtful because we normally would not travel like that,” Deanna said. “So it’s a very unusual circumstance because we wouldn’t keep that kind of stuff in our rig normally.”

If they could go back, the Moores say they’d park in a lot with more people around instead of a pull out parking area along the road. They want to warn others to be careful where they park and what they leave in their car.

They filed a police report and plan to check Craigslist to see if they can find someone trying to sell their things.