AKRON, Ohio — Police in Akron are searching for thieves who stole a trailer at J&J Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electric in east Akron Saturday night.
Security cameras captured the theft, showing a person cutting through the gate, a driver pulling in a pickup truck to the parking lot, and quickly hooking up the truck to one of the company's trailers and driving away.
Owner Nathan Revesz told News 5 that the trailer was the only one locked, which may have led the thieves to think the contents inside were the most expensive contents.
However, that wasn't the case. It was filled with soccer gear for an Akron youth league.
"We have over 250 kids that come, and we set up goals for every one of them," said owner Nathan Revesz. "What's in here would have been very valuable for us – [difficult] getting it all back together [but] there's nothing of value to them."
That soccer trailer was quickly recovered after being found abandoned just a couple of miles away, with all the soccer equipment still inside.
Ben Beaver, who works as the marketing and PR manager at J&J and has children in the soccer club, said he wished he could have seen the thieves' reaction.
"I don't think they knew – I would have loved to have been there when they realized they stole a bunch of kids' soccer equipment," Beaver said. "I hope they frowned a little bit at that point. It feels very violating as a locally owned company. We're family owned, and we're part of this community, and now I feel we have to get two locks on every door."
The crime didn't end there.
Security video shows the thieves returned an hour later, cutting a hole in the back fence, despite having already opened the front gate.
This time, they broke into one of the installation trucks and stole tools and parts, though Revesz said the items weren't particularly valuable.
"We could give them some pointers that could help these guys out," Revesz chuckled.
Both Revesz and Beaver were relieved that the thieves were not able to get away with any of their soccer equipment.
"I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else," Beaver added.
The company is offering a free furnace tune-up to anyone with information that leads police to those responsible for the theft.
