Stolen Cub Scout trailer found
This handout photo shows a Cub Scout trailer that was reported stolen last month containing camping equipment, supplies, banners, flags and 40 years of Cub Scout mementos. Suffolk police said that the trailer was found by a jogger in Brightwaters. (Feb. 2, 2012) Credit: SCPD
A Cub Scout trailer stolen last month from an Islip parking lot has been found by a jogger in Brightwaters, Suffolk police said Thursday.
The trailer, full of equipment and 40 years of memories for the Cub Scout Pack 370 of Islip, was taken between Jan. 16 and 18 from the lot of Marconi Manor Caterers on Commack Road and Moffitt Boulevard, police said.
A jogger out at 10 a.m. Sunday recognized the missing trailer on Wohseepee Drive from a media report, police said.
The theft of the trailer drew media attention in the metro area. Police said they announced the jogger’s discovery of the trailer days later for investigative reasons.
Whoever took the weathered, gray-on-silver trailer had tossed around the equipment inside, including a video projector and monitor, but left the flag and the ceremonial essentials for pack master Kurt Nilsen's son Nicholas to graduate to the Boy Scouts this month.
"For the most part, all the good stuff that we need was there," Nilsen said. "I'm happy that it's here. I'm happy that the memorabilia, the flags are found."
Whoever took the trailer absconded with work tools and large cans of beans and corn for camping, but left the sauerkraut, he said. It left him wondering who took the trailer, but Nilsen can still joke: "It's a sauerkraut hater we're looking for."
The trailer had been purchased eight months ago for $500 from Boy Scout Troop 439 in Ronkonkoma.
The Cub Scout pack had left the Boy Scouts vinyl lettering on the side of the trailer, but Nilsen said someone had tried to rub out the lettering with a circular saw, leaving a mess of black whirls on the side.
The trailer will no longer be left at the lot of Marconi Manor Caterers, the pack’s sponsor, but will be relocated to an undisclosed location, Nilsen said.
The pack master said he will also put a heavy-duty lock on the door. He said there had been no lock beyond the one on the doorknob because he figured no one would take anything from the Scouts: “It’s kids’ stuff. Who’s going to take candy from a baby?”
Detectives ask anyone with information to contact them at 631-854-8352 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
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