‘Frustrating’: Break-in leaves St. Albert Minor Baseball Association without equipment before tournament

The St. Albert Minor Baseball Association says thieves stole $30,000 worth of equipment from its clubhouse earlier this week. CTV News Edmonton's Nav Sangha has

Police are investigating after $30,000 worth of property was stolen from the St. Albert Minor Baseball Association (SMBA).

RCMP say two men and a woman broke into the association’s clubhouse around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, sticking around until 6:30 a.m. and leaving in a black Ford Mustang.

Security video appears to show someone using a crowbar to pry open a door.

It wasn’t the only way the thieves tried to get in, according to SMBA association director Kurtus Miller.

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“They tried going in through [a] vent, because this vent cover has been torn off and there’s footprints on the toilets,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Friday.

Miller says a $10,000 ball flight monitor, a TV, the controller for the SMBA’s electronic scoreboard, and a safe were among the items taken by the thieves.

“We’ve had minor break-ins to the press boxes and stuff like that but this is by far the biggest one that we suffered,” Miller said.

“It’s frustrating because a lot of the equipment [the thieves] can’t really use. The speakers and the TV, they could use that stuff, probably easy to sell, but the controller for the scoreboard, I don’t know why you need that.”

The break-in came just days before the SMBA’s annual tournament this weekend.

“We’re scrambling a little bit,” Miller said.

“It will be a little bit silly not being able to use the scoreboard but we got flip charts, so the kids will be OK.”

Miller says the association is in the process of dealing with insurance and figuring out how to prevent a similar incident in the future.

“They were here for almost four hours. It’s so quiet here at night. Maybe we need to look at a security company to roll through.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nav Sangha