SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — In Tom Jager's community, it is quiet, peaceful, and above all, free of crime.
That was until early Monday morning when a thief came up to his driveway and stole thousands of dollars of brand new sporting equipment right out of the back of his truck.
“I had loaded it all up in the back of my truck late at night the night before last, and I was going to go put it in our storage shed,” Jager told FOX 13.
He founded and operates the Mountain Football Conference, a youth football league in Utah.
“My wife and I started this football league last year… This is our second year of being around,” he said. “I mean, to steal from little kids is crazy.”
In total, the price of what was stolen was about $3,000 which included about 40 pairs of Nike and Under Armour game pants with pads, four "speed flex" helmets, and accompanying parts for those helmets.
Jager’s security camera caught the criminal, but not the car — so he is sharing the footage with the public to see if anyone recognizes the man.
While the items are expensive, they are of little value to whomever stole them — the helmets are specific to his league, and Jager doubts that any local high school or college team would buy them.
The helmets themselves are the best that money can buy for safety.
"It's the same ones that the high school and the colleges and NFL uses," he said. "We wanted our kids to have the best technology and the safest helmet for them.”
Because of how specific those helmets are, Jager hopes he can find them somewhere.
Ultimately, it's going to impact an already tough year because of COVID-19.
“I work hard for what I have, and the people that work hard in this organization work really hard," he said. "I think [the thief] is an idiot… I think it's pretty lame to steal from kids.”
