Money Stolen from Middletown Pop Warner Facility

Middletown police are investigating the theft of about $5,000 from a Middletown Islanders Pop Warner storage facility at the Gaudet Athletic Complex sometime over Labor Day weekend.

The suspect pried open the front door and once inside, pried open another door to get to a filing cabinet where the money was secured, according to a police report.

Police said the break-in occurred sometime between Sunday at 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday afternoon.

The suspect appeared to know where to look. Police noted in the report that the suspect only pried open one of two doors inside the building — the one leading to where supplies and money were kept. And once in that room, the suspect seemed to know which one of two locked filing cabinets contained the money.

“The filing cabinet on the right, where the money was secured, was also forcefully entered,” the report stated. “The locking mechanism, which was screwed into the cabinet, had been detached. On the floor in front of the cabinet was a long metal pole consistent with a tool that could slide behind the lock and rip it off the cabinet. The filing cabinet on the left was not tampered with.”

The money was separated between two cash boxes and a fabric money bag, all of which were emptied and left behind in the room.

The organization’s secretary told police that the money was secured in the cabinet Sunday afternoon and when she arrived Tuesday morning to the concession stand, she didn’t notice anything out of place at first.

She said that normally, the majority of money “collected through the tournament is deposited in the bank” but in this case, ”the bank was closed on Monday due to the Labor Day weekend.”

The money was to be used to pay for trophies and the league’s annual banquet and league officials expressed dismay at both the incident and criticism on social media that the money was left in the building.

League secretary Janetta Donovan said that they thought the money locked in a bank bag, in a locked cabinet behind two locked doors would keep the money safe.

“We were naive to think someone wouldn’t steal from our kids,”Donovan said. “We were left vulnerable and taken advantage of. Obviously money will never be left ‘locked up’ again.”

Police are actively investigating the incident and asking for anyone with information to call Det. Scott Naso at 401-846-1144 ext. 7031 or the dispatcher at 401-846-1144.