A Little League in West Sacramento is asking for the public's help after thieves stole its brand-new riding lawnmower from a ball field, in a theft that was caught on a security camera. The equipment had been used to keep the playing fields in good shape for the children who use them.
According to the league, two men came to West Sacramento's Memorial Park just after nine at night last Saturday and cut a lock off a fence to reach the grassy area where the mower was parked. Security camera video shows the pair pulling up in a light-colored SUV with a hitch and a smaller trailer that had a toolbox at the front.
In the footage, one of the men was wearing shorts and the other was in denim overalls. The two walked up to where the mower was kept behind the locked fence, then wheeled it down the walkway and loaded it onto their trailer before driving off. The whole theft took only about ten minutes from start to finish.
The stolen machine was a John Deere riding mower that cost more than 3,000 dollars. The league said the money to buy it had come from fundraisers and donations, and that the mower was used to give the children a level, well-kept field to play on each season, with hundreds of young players using the grounds.
Matthew Hodge, the team's field maintenance coordinator, said the loss was disappointing because so much work goes into the fields and the equipment exists to help the children. He described the theft as sad given that it was meant to benefit the young players who train and compete there.
A nine-year-old team member named Christian had a blunt message for whoever took the mower, telling them they should not do something like that and asking them to give it back. The league said it has already filed a police report and is hoping someone will be able to identify the suspects from the video, adding that it plans to fit the mower with a tracking tag if it is ever recovered.