North Haven Lacrosse team has equipment stolen, Community rallies to help

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (WFSB) - A majority of the equipment stolen from the North Haven Lacrosse team has been found.

On Wednesday, police asked for help identifying the car and driver who stole the lacrosse team’s trailer of equipment.

While most of the equipment has now been found, their trailer is still missing.

Residents in town say as upsetting as this is, they’re glad the community is coming together.

“I love lacrosse and I don’t want our stuff to get taken,” said Harper Reiss, North Haven.

Monday afternoon, the first day of practice, members of North Haven Youth Lacrosse went to the field to prepare for the season.

“We discovered that our equipment trailer was missing,” said Lorenzo Porto, North Haven Youth Lacrosse President.

A tan pickup truck was caught on camera driving away with the white utility trailer which held valuable lacrosse equipment.

“We had protective gear for our goalies, balls, which you’d never think but balls are important for lacrosse, anything for tournaments that we do, wagons,” said Lorenzo.

“I was sad and mad at the people who took it,” Harper said.

“I was disappointed because lacrosse is my favorite sport. It’s an entertaining sport that gets you moving,” added Eliana Paz, North Haven.

Luckily, some of the thousands of dollars worth of equipment was recovered Friday.

“The trailer has not been found. North Haven Police Department did recover the gear and they handed it back to us, almost all of it,” Lorenzo said.

It didn’t take long for people to step in and help out.

“The community is really gathered around the kids so that’s really awesome,” said Jessica Valentin, North Haven Lacrosse Parent.

Amici’s in Hamden is just one of many helping out North Haven Lacrosse.

“You don’t want anything bad to happen to anyone, but when it happens to kids, it’s even more painful,” said Stephen Barraco, Owner of Café Amici, Hamden.

They are holding a fundraiser on Thursday, April 6th.

“We’re doing lunch and dinner, 10% of proceeds will go back to lacrosse for North Haven,” said Stephen.

If anyone has information on the vehicle or driver, contact the North Haven Police Department.

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