The St. Albert Minor Baseball Association has suffered $30,000 in damages and loss after a break-in last week.
During the early morning of May 13, two men and a woman broke into the SAMBA clubhouse and fieldhouse.
Kurtus Millar, SAMBA's executive director, said the thieves were inside the clubhouse and field house for approximately three-and-a-half to four hours between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m.
Millar said they used a crowbar to break in through the back door.
"They brought in a big gas-powered saw, and it looks like they used an axe to get through the wall and get into our office, and then they used a big gas-powered saw to cut open the safe," said Millar. "We don't keep a lot in there, I think we might have had maybe a $100 cash float in there."
Although the safe held only a small amount of cash, it also contained spare keys to the facility. The thieves took the keys, forcing the organization to replace all the locks.
Millar said the major items were stolen from the fieldhouse, including a Rapsodo baseball flight monitor, which is used to help train the athletes and costs approximately $10,000, the remote to the scoreboard and two portable speakers.
"They stole a 55-inch TV off the wall, a projector, some signed baseballs from the Blue Jays alumni that come and run some of some camps for us every summer," said Millar.
Millar said he doesn't understand why they stole the Rapsodo machine or the remote, as these items aren't something that can be used or resold. He explained that the Rapsodo device requires a membership for the machine, which is connected to the St. Albert Minor Baseball Association's account.
In addition to the stolen items, Millar said the break-in caused significant physical damage to the facility.
"It looks like they originally tried taking the safe out of the office, and they wrecked the floor, like there's holes in the floor. They bashed through the drywall like they made a mess," he said. "We're thinking right now, around $30,000 in damages and loss."
Millar said he’s frustrated by the lack of respect shown by the group who took the time to break into a non-profit run by volunteers for kids in the community.
"I'm just very disappointed that someone would break in and steal this stuff when you can't even use most of it,” he said. “I don't even know where you would sell it, and you're going to cause volunteers and a non-profit, all this work and time and money."
Millar explained after the break-in they had volunteers take time off work to help clean up and prepare for the tournament they had from May 16 to 19.
"It's just very unfortunate and disheartening that they would cause a non-profit for kids, all this cost and damage," said Millar. "We work really hard to try and keep our registrations as low as we can, and it's not cheap."
Anyone with information about the break-in is asked to contact the St. Albert RCMP.
