Thieves stole items from a park concession stand and vandalized it, affecting Robstown PONY League and leaving them nearly $1K in the hole.

ROBSTOWN, Texas — A local youth baseball league in Robstown is picking up the pieces after a break-in at its concession stand left about $1,000 in stolen goods and damage.

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Pony League President Jeffrey Ramon has led the league for three years and said he’s never seen anything like this before.

“You’re taking away from kids, short and simple,” Ramon said. “All the merchandise she just purchased from Sam’s over $800 on Friday night, gone. Including the fixture of the door, the fixation of it, and you know, the merchandise, I’d say a little over $1000 easily.”

The concession stand at the Nueces County Park was burglarized just days before the new softball season kicked off. 

“Stand bar makes money. It all goes into the league, you know, to buy the uniforms, the shirts or the hats, you know, we, purchase, equipment for kids that don’t have. We try to help everybody out, so  it directly impacts, you know, the funds,” Ramon said.

Nueces County Constable Precinct 5 Sergeant Antonio Aguilar is investigating this case. He said it’s not the first time — and now they’re working to track down those responsible.

“At this point, no, we have very few leads. We’re hoping that by you all helping put it out there into the community that someone out there comes forward and maybe gives us some information,” Aguilar said. 
We have a feeling it might be young teenagers.”

With a league that serves up to 200 kids, Ramon said it’s important they step up to make the baseball fields and rest of the park safer for everyone. 

“So it’s not secure. We need cameras back here, we need — Wi Fi back here, we need our commissioner to put some attention into not just this facility but the county park in general,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar said that even though the amount stolen was small, it’s still significant because it qualifies as a felony. 

“At the end of the day, you know, it hurts the, the young. This is for them and even though it’s only $1000 it does put a hardship on the financials of the organization and if they get away with ones they’re gonna do it again,” Aguilar said.