The following story was updated at 3:30 p.m. on August 21:
After a small Stoughton boy had his iPad stolen, the Stoughton Police Department stepped up to get him a new one.
The three-and-a-half year old boy is autistic and uses the iPad to communicate. It was stolen from his mother's car, FOX 25 and WHDH report.
Sarah Cardoso's Jeep SUV, parked at her Lincoln Street home, was broken into early Tuesday morning, with the thief taking the iPad and $10 left in the glove compartment, according to FOX 25.
Cardoso's son, Ryan, has a non-verbal form of autism. The iPad was left charging in the car because Ryan's service dog chewed the charger used in the house, according to FOX 25.
Cardoso asked for the thief to return her son's iPad.
"Would you steal a wheelchair from someone that needs a wheelchair to walk? You wouldn’t, would you? He needs this to talk. Shame on you," she told WHDH.
While the thief has not been found, the Stoughton Police Department helped to give Ryan his voice back - giving him a new iPad on Wednesday.
"We all just felt so badly and many of us are parents ourselves who can empathize," Deputy Chief Robert Devine told Stoughton Patch. "It just felt like the right thing to do."
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Click on the following links to read more:
Watch Deputy Chief Robert Devine, Sarah Cardoso and Ryan on Fox 25 morning news with "VB."
FOX 25 Report
WHDH Report
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