SPRINGVILLE — An amputee student pursuing a career in film was led to believe he was facing the loss of his wheelchair-accessible van because the state claimed he wasn't working toward his employment goals.

Brent W. Reiche, who goes by his professional name, Brandyn Cross, received a letter from the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in August threatening to reclaim the van because his case was apparently going nowhere.

Kyle Walker, case service director for the Utah Office of Rehabilitation, said Cross' caseworker had tried to contact the student on numerous occasions without success. The letter, Walker said, "was to get his attention."

Cross, on the other hand, claims the state ignored his efforts to pursue his goals.

The state now has no intention of taking the van away, Walker said Thursday.

Cross, his caseworker and a representative from the Disability Law Center are scheduled to meet Sept. 21, Walker said.

Cross started pursuing his dream of making movies on his own when communication broke down between him and his newly assigned caseworker. Cross said he tried to meet with the caseworker to set up his classes for the 2008 fall semester at Salt Lake Community College. The caseworker failed to return his calls, Cross said, so he missed that semester in which he could have finished his degree in film.

Rather than sit and bemoan his situation, Cross enrolled in the REEL film school in Springville sans state assistance. He also has taken classes under Jeff Johnson, a casting director in Salt Lake City with ties to Hollywood.

A former Union Pacific Railroad conductor, Cross lost his left leg in a 2001 job-related accident and injured his right leg, which never fully recovered. He first enrolled in SLCC under a retraining program and attended for three years.

At first, his then-caseworker attempted to get him to school via the Utah Transit Authority bus system, but when that didn't work, he tried a paratransit system. Cross would spend as long as eight hours on the bus each day, he said, and the paratransit system wouldn't allow him to take his wheelchair.

"My right leg has systemic nerve damage. I can't go far on crutches," he said.

The state arranged for a converted wheelchair-accessible van so Cross could drive himself.

"They paid 80 percent (of the cost of the van), and I paid the rest," he said. "I have title to it."

Then the department promoted his caseworker, and Cross was switched to another rehabilitation counselor.