Thieves target football, baseball league in Denver Harbor

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A youth football and baseball league is trying to recover from a huge setback after being victimized by thieves.

Sometime after Saturday evening, someone broke into the storage container and concession stand used by the Denver Harbor youth football and baseball leagues at Denver Harbor Park on Market Street. Pitching machines, bats, bases and footballs were stolen from the container. Food, drinks, a printer, sound equipment and $600 cash were taken from the concession stand. It was also ransacked.

"It's horrible. It's hard to recover from something like this," said Amanda Martinez, President of the Little League.

The leagues are active most of the year. Football league leaders arrived Monday evening to continue registration only to find broken locks.

"You're not taking it away from us. You're taking it from the little kids," said Ruben Robles, a coach for 18 years.

Both sports serve about 650 children in the low income area in East Houston. The parent volunteers say it's about more than just baseball or football.

"These kids out here, if they don't have anything to do, they're going to be on the street. What we do, what we focus on is to keep them involved so they won't be doing that," Robles added.

The league filed a police report with HPD.