Last week brought us not one but two tales of prosthetic legs stolen from their owners, the first of which was found leaning up against a tree at Eighth and Market on Friday, February 27. The owner of the leg, as it turned out, had been the victim of a violent crime not far from there, and was being treated for injuries at the VA hospital last week when the police officer who found the leg was able to reunite him with it.

As the Chronicle reports, 52-year-old Rocco Rossinni, a statistician who lives in Half Moon Bay, had come to San Francisco to do some shopping at the Westfield Centre. He parked his car at the Fifth and Mission garage and was on his way back to it when he felt his wheelchair being pushed from behind across Mission Street. He was then pushed into an alley where another waiting man helped toss him out of the chair, beat him, and steal his wallet, cell phone, and his leg.

You'll recall, it had a fairly spiffy new shoe on it, and it so happens that Rossinni had just purchased new shoes.

An autoimmune disorder caused Rossinni to lose parts of both legs, and uses a wheelchair as well as the prosthesis. Sadly, the injuries sustained to his limbs in the robbery incident meant that he required surgery to promote proper healing, and he remained at the VA last week when one of his therapists there saw the original Chronicle piece about the leg, and contacted the police officer who discovered it through the paper. Rossinni had ordered a replacement leg, with a copay of $4,500, but was able to cancel that order.

With a flair for the dramatic, Rossinni says he felt like "Cinderella at the ball." But I think he means after the ball.

Now if someone could just find that other missing leg, the $30,000 running blade that belonged to Paralympic hopeful Ranjit Steiner that was stolen out of his car in the Mission.

Previously: Police Seek Owner In Case Of Found Prosthetic Leg