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CLINTON — Police in Davis County said they were looking Wednesday into a possible connection between the thefts of two trailers belonging to Boy Scouts, as one troop cautioned other scout leaders against leaving trailers and the valuables they contain alone in parking lots.
“I think the best option would be to keep (a trailer) at somebody’s house,” said Cory Jones, scout committee chairman of Troop 51, based in Clinton.
The thefts took place only three miles apart in Clinton and West Point, and came to the attention of police earlier this month.
“We think we had it fully stuffed and ready for this year when it turned up missing,” Jones said.
The troop’s white trailer, which contained thousands of dollars of tents and other camping equipment, disappeared from a church parking lot at 2206 W. 2300 North and hasn’t been seen since.
“Much of it was donated, but probably half of it the scouts went out and earned money to purchase some of those things,” Jones said.
Just three miles away, at a church parking lot at 2852 W. 300 North in West Point, another scout trailer vanished, only to turn up emptied in Ogden.
“I don’t know if it’s kids or people looking for drug money,” said Troop 62 charter representative Rich Vandenberg.
Vandenberg said his troop is tailored for special needs kids, and thousands of dollars in gear for those children that took years to acquire is gone.
“(It’s) kind of hard to see it just disappear,” he said.
Davis County Sheriff’s Sgt. DeeAnn Servey said deputies and Ogden Police detectives were working the West Point case.
Clinton Police Sgt. Matt Fawbush said investigators would investigate a possible connection between the two thefts.
“Now that they do have a trailer — if there’s any physical evidence, fingerprints, anything to lead to any suspect information — we’ll definitely follow up on that and see if there’s a link to our case,” Fawbush said.
Whether there is a link or not, Jones said his troop’s advice remains the same in terms of keeping scout trailers stored at homes instead of parking lots.
“This isn’t the first trailer that’s been stolen and it seems like it’s been happening more and more often, and we wanted to give people notice out there,” Jones said.
