Trailer loaded with tools and camping gear stolen from boy scouts

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KANSAS CITY, Mo – They’re known for helping people who are in need.

Now, a Boy Scout troop from the metro needs the public’s assistance after a trailer filled with their tools and camping gear was stolen during the weekend.

Scout leaders in the metro told FOX 4 News it’s a case of thieves stealing dreams from children.

A 7 by 14-foot utility trailer loaded with gear belonging to Boy Scout Troop 62 was stolen from a church parking lot at 99th Street and Holmes Road. Joe Nastasi is one of the troop’s leaders, and he estimates $10,000 in tools and camping items, and, of course, the trailer, have gone up in smoke.

Nastasi said elders at the Holmeswood Baptist Church allowed the scouts to store the trailer on their parking lot, but not even anti-theft devices, such as a large hitch lock, could stop crooks from taking it away.

“It appears they must have used some kind of sledgehammer to bust that open. We found part of that mechanism on the ground over here. They had to work on it pretty good, we believe,” Nastasi said.

“To me, it’s one of the lowest things people can do, stealing from children.”

Nastasi said Scout Troop 62 has used the tents and tools housed in that trailer in numerous projects. He said the troop’s history dates back 70 years, and has produced 69 Eagle Scouts.

“These boys are learning to be good citizens,” Nastasi said.

Joe’s youngest son, Jesse Nastasi, is the troop’s newest Eagle Scout, having built new dugouts for Center Middle School’s baseball field as his Eagle project.

“That people would do this to scouts, when we’re trying our best to help out other people with no concern about what happens to us. It’s just very disappointing,” Jesse Nastasi said.

Joe Nastasi said this isn’t the first time the troop has been the target of criminals. He said Troop 62 also lost a small flatbed trailer to criminals several years ago. This theft comes at a bad time, since Troop 62, which is home to 27 teenage scouts, has three campouts scheduled between now and mid-June, and there’s no camping equipment to use.

Troop 62 leader Mark Trokey shared this detailed description of the trailer, which has no markings on its exterior, a move meant to deter potential thieves: