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Kid league thrown for a loss by burglary

The Tampa Bay Youth Football League loses $10,000 in a break-in. Police think someone on the inside was involved.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published August 23, 2005

TAMPA - Just two weeks into its season, the Tampa Bay Youth Football League has suffered a major loss.

This one has nothing to do with touchdowns or field goals.

Sunday evening, a solid steel safe containing about $10,000 in concession revenues was stolen from the concession stand at Skyway Park, where the league's 12 teams play.

The theft is a huge blow to the 37-year-old league, which has grown to about 3,000 players and cheerleaders, said president Scott Levinson.

"We try to do it right for the kids, and this is money we depend on," said Levinson, father to three former league players.

The league uses weekly concession revenue to cover the cost of uniforms and equipment and to pay game officials, police officers and paramedics who work the Saturday games.

"It costs $5,500 a weekend," just to pay those people, Levinson said.

Tampa police Sgt. James Contento said it looks like an inside job involving more than one person. The culprits struck during a period of time when the area was vacant and appear to have gone straight for the steel safe, which weighs about 200 pounds.

"Somebody in the inside had some knowledge," Contento said.

Each week, 10 players from one of the league's 12 teams work the Skyway Park concession stand, 3901 George Road. In exchange for helping the three full-time concession employees, the team gets 15 percent of the gross profits, said longtime league concession operator Fran Mackey, 63.

A different team works the stand each week. One of the team's players helps Mackey count the money throughout the day. Each time money is deposited into the safe, a receipt is filled out to document how much money was put in, Levinson said.

The safe is located in Mackey's office behind the concession stand, next to two locked drawers where Mackey said he keeps smaller amounts of money to be used for change on Saturdays. A metal roll-down door secures the entire concession area.

Mackey said everything was secure when he left at 5:15 p.m. Sunday, after several hours of cleaning the concession area of the previous day's mess. He said the Sunday cleaning is a weekly ritual.

When a league board member arrived at 8 p.m. to file some paperwork, he saw that the roll-down door was broken, Contento said.

The safe in Mackey's office was gone, and the thieves had tried unsuccessfully to open the two change drawers.

"They knew exactly where they were going," Mackey said.

The thieves put the safe on a cart used to bring ice coolers onto the field, and wheeled the safe to the end of the north field, Mackey said. Then, somehow, they got the safe over the 8-foot fence.

"I can't lift that by myself," Mackey said. "And I'm a big man."

Levinson said the league is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the safe and the money.

"To the people that took the money, keep the $500 and give us the rest back," he said. "Or call me. I won't even call police. We just want the money back."

As police sought leads and tips, Mackey just hoped the thieves would turn out to be strangers.

"If it was someone from the league,"he said, "that would hurt worse than anything."

[Last modified August 23, 2005, 02:45:30]