Thieves target local Boy Scouts -- for the 5th time
SILVERDALE -- Thieves in Kitsap County have targeted a local Boy Scout Troop five times in the past year when the office for troop 1539 in Silverdale was trashed over the weekend.
Now, the organization has to spend the little money they have on repairing the damage and replacing the equipment.
The first break-in happened October 2012 and since then thieves have busted down the doors to the building or broke into a nearby storage shed.
“You try to secure it and they keep breaking in,” Scoutmaster Tom Bougan said. “It’s like, what are you supposed to do?”
Bougan thinks the thieves broke through the back door with a crowbar Friday or Saturday night. The weekend burglary is the latest at their office inside the VFW hall on Central Valley Road.
“Last time they took all the hand tools,” Bougan said. “We replaced the hand tools and they took them again.”
The thieves then went after axes -- the same axes the troop recently bought to replace the ones stolen during the last burglary.
“There’s not a lot of re-sellable stuff,” added Bougan. “It does say Troop 1539 on every one of those axes.”
Neighbor Arthur Barnes can’t understand how people could stoop so low as to victimize kids.
“Go get a job at McDonalds, bro. I’ve done it,” Barnes said. “It’s not what people would say is successful, but you’re not stealing from kids and it’s easy.”
The dummy cameras and motion sensor lights were supposed to scare off the criminals, but it wasn't enough to deter them.
Bougan said the real losers are his scouts who end up paying the price.
“We collect dues from the boys to help pay for gear and this sets us back because we have to replace this stuff,” he said. “If you really need something come to us, because that’s what Boy Scouts do, is help people. It seems really heinous to keep stealing from the Boy Scouts.”
The burglaries have happened so often, Bougan thinks it might be time to get a full security system, but he’s not convinced that’s going to stop burglars from striking again.