Trailer stolen from Boy Scouts with all of troop's camping gear

REDMOND - A trailer belonging to a local Boy Scout troop is stolen by thieves. It had all their camping gear inside, putting their annual summer retreat is in jeopardy.

The trailer was parked at the Timberlake Church in Redmond.  It’s private property and not easily seen from the road, so they thought it would be safe. But sometime Thursday night or Friday morning, someone took off with it.

13 year old Galen Guyer is looking forward to Boy Scout troop 575’s trip to Camp Merriweather in Oregon next week.

“It’s basically seven days of going and earning merit badges,” he says.

But before they can go on their trip, they have to figure out a way to replace their lost cooking gear, camping equipment, and some special flags.

“Each patrol creates their own custom flag that you take to camp and show your spirit with,” says Scoutmaster David Guyer. “Those were all in there, those are gone. We're going to have to come up with something on the fly.”



The Boy Scout motto is to ‘Be Prepared.’ But they never thought they’d have to prepare for something like this.

“We prepare for first aid,” says Guyer. “But at least we have the opportunity to teach you can overcome, you can adapt.”

“I don't know why the thieves would have done it, I’ve never thought about it,” says Galen. “But it's sad, because we have to go through a whole lot of work and it does harm us as an organization.”

But he says their troop is resilient. They’ll  still make it to camp, and they won’t let this setback ruin their experience.

“There's still a whole lot of fun to do.”

Jordan Lee, the Executive Pastor with Timberlake Church, released a statement after hearing about the theft: “We are very saddened someone would steal from the Boy Scouts and this incident happened on our property.  In light of this we will be making a donation of $3,000 to the Boy Scouts and are accepting donations toward replacement equipment and supplies to cover Boy Scout Troop 575’s loss.”

The trailer wasn’t marked, so the troop doesn’t think they were targeted. The trailer has a WA license plate, 116XCF. If you’ve seen it or know anything that might help investigators, you’re asked to call the King County Sheriff’s Office or Crimestoppers.