TORONTO -- An Ottawa-area woman with multiple sclerosis was robbed of the iPhone she was trying to sell for some extra Christmas money after meeting a would-be buyer who responded to her online ad.
“The idea was to sell my old phone to help get me through January,” 46-year-old Tammy Cullhain told CTV Ottawa.
“It’s been such a hard time lately. I thought I was doing something good… I wanted to make a few other people’s Christmas’ a bit better.”
Cullhain, who uses a motorized wheelchair, said she listed her iPhone X on Kijiji for $800. She accepted an offer to meet a prospective buyer, who only identified themselves using their initials, outside a YMCA in downtown Ottawa on Monday night.
Upon arriving, Cullhain met a group of three girls, believed to be in their teens. She said the alleged thieves repeatedly complained about a lack of Wi-Fi and wanted to move locations.
Cullhain handed the suspects the iPhone but alleges the suspects ran off with it when she turned to adjust her wheelchair.
“I’m usually very independent but right now it’s going to take a lot to get that back,” she said.
“I spent the last year struggling with depression and anxiety and I finally wanted to celebrate.”
Friends of Cullhain, who describe her as independent and good natured, fear the suspects saw it as a crime of opportunity.
“I doubt they realized Tammy was in a chair, but once they saw that I bet their eyes lit up. I bet they said this is going to be easy let’s just do it,” Cullhain’s friend Craig Baumken told CTV Ottawa.
Baumken has since started a GoFundMe campaign to help Cullhain “land back on her feet.” The campaign has since raised over $1,200.
“I was angry at her because she put herself in a vulnerable spot… but then, thank God, it could have been worse. They could have flipped her chair; they could have done a lot of things that could have been way worse,” said Baumken.
“Never mind Christmas this is wrong. This is wrong, period, on every level.”
The incident has been reported to Ottawa police.
