San Antonio Police Chief William McManus and Paralympian Jen Lee speak at a news conference on Wednesday after McManus was able to return the gold medals that Lee won as a member of the U.S. sled hockey team.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus and Paralympian Jen Lee speak at a news conference on Wednesday after McManus was able to return the gold medals that Lee won as a member of the U.S. sled hockey team. The medals were stolen from Lee’s car on Saturday.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus and Paralympian Jen Lee speak at a news conference on Wednesday after McManus was able to return the gold medals that Lee won as a member of the U.S. sled hockey team. The medals were stolen from Lee’s car on Saturday.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus and Paralympian Jen Lee speak at a news conference on Wednesday after McManus was able to return the gold medals that Lee won as a member of the U.S. sled hockey team. The medals were stolen from Lee’s car on Saturday.
The gold medals that Paralympian Jen Lee won as a member of the U.S. sled hockey team were returned to him Wednesday by San Antonio police. The medals were stolen from Lee’s car on Saturday.
Rogelio Solis, 36, was charged with theft after allegedly stealing three gold medals that Paralympian Jen Lee earned playing on the U.S. sled hockey team.
With tears in his eyes and a Team USA hoodie on his back, Jen Lee held up his three Paralympic gold medals, happy to have them back in his hands after they were stolen from his car less than a week ago.
“I can’t be any more thankful for this. From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Lee said Wednesday at the San Antonio Police Department’s Public Safety Headquarters, where he was reunited with his medals. “I thought I would never see them again.”
On Saturday, Jen Lee discovered that someone had broken into his Tesla and stolen his backpack with the medals inside. But with help from social media and the SAPD, the medals were recovered.
The 35-year-old veteran, who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident in 2009, was a member of the U.S. sled hockey team in the last three Paralympics, including the most recent games in Beijing.
U.S. Marshals arrested 36-year-old Rogelio Solis Wednesday morning in connection with the theft. He was taken into custody near Roosevelt Avenue and Loop 410 and charged with vehicle burglary and theft up to $30,000.
To Lee, the medals were a representation of things bigger than anything that he could hold in his hands: the memories of each of the games, the bonds he formed with his teammates and athletes across the world, the work he put in to earn a spot in the Paralympic games, and the pride of representing his country.
“For me, the medals are great, but at the end of the day they are just materials, and after they were taken, I had to accept that they were probably lost forever,” Lee said.
The security video camera in Lee’s Tesla captured footage of Solis walking up to the car in the parking garage at the Rim and using a tool to break the window and take the backpack inside, police said.
The burglary took about 23 seconds as Solis ran from the parking garage with the blue Team USA backpack slung on his back.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus tweeted a photo of Solis, asking for the public’s help identifying him, and the tweet quickly took off — with social media users outraged and in disbelief over the crime.
“I was amazed by how many people hit on the tweet, but there are just some things that really piss people off,” McManus said Wednesday afternoon. “And what this perpetrator did really pissed off a lot of people.”
Luckily, after the outpouring of support, the medals and backpack were dropped off anonymously at a San Antonio fire station the next day.
On ExpressNews.com: Gold medals stolen from Paralympian hockey champ in San Antonio recovered
McManus said the massive and angry response on social media likely spooked Solis into returning the backpack.
“I am super grateful and super blessed for the support I got. I say this is the people’s medal because we won this for our country,” Lee said.
Lee joined the Army when he was 18, serving during some of the worst years of the Iraq War. He had risen from specialist to sergeant while serving in Tikrit and Kirkuk, Iraq, as the insurrection against U.S. forces exploded in 2006 and 2007.
Then came the motorcycle accident in March 2009, as he rode on Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Fla.
In 2009, Lee was sent to the Center for the Intrepid at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston for rehab, where he developed his love for sled hockey.
Lee’s sled hockey talent got him noticed by scouts, and he made Team USA in time for the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. He then played in the 2018 games in South Korea and in China this year.
“When I enlisted, I didn’t go into the military to get anything in return. I did it to serve my community and my country,” Lee said. “And now, to see how my community reached out to help, it is like wow, this is surreal.”
The Paralympian joked that he learned his lesson not to leave his backpack where people can see it. Next time, he’ll put it in the trunk.
Sig Christenson contributed to this report.
taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway
Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news reporter, originally from Colorado. She has degrees in journalism and criminology. Follow her @TaylorPettaway.