Friends and supporters of the Santa Clarita Youth Soccer League have shown their care for founder Kevin Morales, starting a fundraising campaign to help him replace several thousand dollars in equipment used by local children.
Morales said he didn’t want to ask for help, but parents in the community who help support his league stepped up after his car was stolen from his driveway on Rosehaven Lane in the early morning hours Sunday in Sand Canyon, he said in a phone interview Wednesday.
“It’s only been three days almost, and I’m just trying to remain hopeful, you know, that I’ll get the truck back and there’ll be the stuff inside of it,” Morales said, “because I don’t really care about the truck, it’s insured. Like I said, it’s the equipment.”
The new season in his league is set to begin play Aug. 24, so Morales was planning to evaluate about 100 first-timers joining his league for placement in the program, he said.
That meant his truck was packed with equipment, a collection that’s taken him years to put together, from balls to jerseys to goals that can run hundreds of dollars each.
Instead, he was woken up by a loud bang and the sound of glass being smashed in his driveway around 2 a.m. Sunday.
Morales said he didn’t even get dressed. He ran out in his boxers and saw what looked like a teenager hunched over the steering wheel of his white Chevy Silverado, which had the trailer filled with equipment attached.
Morales pounded on the window, so upset and startled by what he saw he didn’t see the one the thief had broken, he said.
Then, his own truck was suddenly being driven at him in reverse, nearly pinning him to his wife’s car in their driveway before taking off, he said.
Morales couldn’t believe the truck was started as he was holding its keys, but as he saw the truck take off, he said, he decided to follow it in his work truck, a smaller Tacoma.
When the thief took off down a small side street that dead ends, Morales thought he had the suspect, and then another scare: He watched his own Silverado being driven at him in a high stakes game of “chicken,” Morales said, adding when he turned his Tacoma to the right, his Silverado scraped up the left side of the work truck and then took off.
Morales said he filed a report, but neither the truck nor the equipment have been found. SCV Sheriff’s Station officials confirmed the theft report Wednesday, noting the suspect was described as wearing a hat and surgical mask, making positive identification difficult.
Morales said the trucks are insured, so he’s less worried about that than the impact on the league — which he described as a labor of love that’s grown into a program with about 600 children ages 3 to 14 years old. It took him years to gather the quality goals and other equipment that gives the league a more professional look and feel that both the adults and kids appreciate.
Those parents are where the support for the GoFundMe came from, he said, expressing appreciation for the help that’s raised more than $3,200 of its $4,500 goal in just a day, mostly in $100 and $200 bursts.
Morales also said he was grateful for the understanding from the 100 or so parents he had to text that morning to cancel the evaluations, adding league play will still begin in a couple of weeks.
To support the GoFundMe, visit bit.ly/SCyouthsoccer.
Anyone with information about this incident can contact the SCV Sheriff’s Station at 661-260-4000. If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP on Google Play or the Apple APP Store or by using the website lacrimestoppers.org.
