Family says looter stole up to $50K in items from their tornado-damaged home

HARRAH, Okla. (KFOR) — The Zachary family was dealt a devastating blow. First, by the powerful weekend tornadoes, now, by thieves.

Myelia Zachary and her husband, Jeffrey, say they feel violated and distraught after a looter ransacked their home, stealing thousands of dollars worth of their belongings.

"You're trying to recover as much as you can, or get an idea of what you can take to your new property," said Jeffrey Zachary.

He adds, "We walked through the house to see somebody had time to rummage through all your drawers, rummage through all your office, cabinets, closets. Steal electronics, gaming systems, purses, shoes."

Their family is now left gutted, and wondering who would do something so low?

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office caught up with the thief.

"We find it despicable that when you've lost everything that you have in a disaster like this, to have somebody go in and violate that by going through your things and stealing whatever they want to, it's just low, it's disgusting," says Aaron Brilbeck, with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office.

As of right now, deputies are not releasing the name or mug shot of the suspect, as they believe there are more victims and would like to continue investigating.

"He's been arrested for a felony possession of a firearm, but we expect there going to be more charges as we continue our investigation," says Brilbeck.

Jeffrey said the items left inside of his home were valued around $40,000 to $50,000.

The Zachary family says they're working to rebuild, but are left wondering how someone could steal from them, when they've already lost so much.

"It makes no sense. We've pretty much lost everything. We were trying to hope that we could save something to make our children's lives somewhat normal," said Myelia Zachary.

If you'd like to help the Zachary family as they work to rebuild and recover, you can donate to their GoFundMe here.