WAIMEA — Four koa bowls that were intended as trophies for a local youth baseball tournament were allegedly stolen. The second annual Baseball in Paradise tournament, hosted by local club Ruff Ryderz Baseball Kauai, concludes today. The koa bowls, which
WAIMEA — Four koa bowls that were intended as trophies for a local youth baseball tournament were allegedly stolen.
The second annual Baseball in Paradise tournament, hosted by local club Ruff Ryderz Baseball Kauai, concludes today.
The koa bowls, which also had engraved plaques, were to be awarded to first and second place division finishers of the tournament.
“Everybody is extremely disappointed,” tournament director Jennifer Pimsaguan said Friday. “It’s really hard when the kids are out here working hard and the parents are working hard, and somebody comes in and does something so childish and foolish, and really creates such a big problem for our organization.”
The bowls were donated by the Friends of Bernard Carvalho Jr., the Mayor’s campaign committee, and their estimated value is $160 total, according to a news release from the Kauai Police Department. The campaign committee donated bowls to the tournament the last two years.
The news release also said the Friends of Bernard Carvalho Jr. will donate new bowls to replace the stolen ones according to campaign coordinator Lenny Rapozo, and that the investigation remains ongoing.
“I am very sad to hear that these awards were stolen from our keiki. To the Ruff Ryderz baseball teams, do not let this crime take this moment of joy from you. Keep positive and know that you have a community that supports you and is celebrating with you in your success,” Carvalho said in a statement. The Kauai Mayor is currently in Japan touring with local youth baseball team Kauai Yankees.
Pimsaguan said the koa bowls along with food, drinks and cooking equipment, were stowed away and locked in the food booth at Waimea Park.
County workers discovered Friday morning a window to the food booth was loose and soon after it was realized the bowls were missing. A few drinks were also missing but the bowls are most important, she added.
“We’ve been running the food booth the whole week. We locked everything up last night,” she said. “It’s a very simple story. Somewhere in the middle of the night, somebody broke into one of the windows of the food booth and stole our koa bowls, left the empty boxes and stole some drinks from under the cooler.”
Nine teams participated this year — four from Kauai, and five from neighbor islands and the Mainland.
