BILLINGS - Hundreds of dollars of equipment is missing from a Billings youth football program.
The league is among a small group nationwide to provide players with the equipment for tackle football.
Somebody tried to sell some equipment belonging to Yellowstone Youth Football.
The group was told it cannot get it back because there was no police report filed.
Now the director of the league would like to see the equipment returned so he can issue it to another player in the fall.
Players in the third through sixth-grade play tackle football each Fall and the Stewart Park fields are marked for flag football in the Spring.
"We want these kids to develop a love for the game of football, but we also want to make sure they learn how to play the game safely" said Preston Roberts, league director.
And playing the game safely means wearing the proper gear.
The Yellowstone Youth Football League has 800 helmets and 1,200 pairs of shoulder pads for at 600 kids to play tackle.
But some of that equipment is missing.
"We check it out in August and they turned it into us after the end of the season," Roberts said about 95 percent of the players. "And somebody decided not to turn them in at the end of last year and walked into play the in sports and tried to try to sell it to them."
Roberts says someone walked into Play It Again Sports about a week and a half ago with two helmets and two pairs of shoulder pads worth about $500.
A store employee recognized the gear belonged to the league and refused to buy it.
The thief walked out of the store with the stolen goods because of a store policy, which prohibits employees from confiscating equipment without a police report.
Play It Again owner Kirk Link says his store has the customer's name, car license plate, phone number and video, but can not release all of this without a report on file.
"We just, unfortunately, don't know who it belongs to because we weren't able to see the numbers that are on the equipment that's missing," Roberts said.
As for what's next, Roberts is hoping the thief does the right thing and returns the gear.
He says it's difficult to determine who may have the equipment because the league wasn't given the equipment numbers and it could be from another season, but he hopes everything will be returned without involving Billings police.
"We just want it back," Roberts said. "We're not looking to get anybody in trouble or cause a big scene about it. We just went through our methods of communication to let people know that hey, it's out there. If you see it, give us a holler."
