Thief Who Stole from Boy Scouts and Church 'Really Low'

ATLANTA, Ga. -- Somebody stole from the Boy Scouts.

Somebody stole Troop 467's camping trailer, with all of the scouts' gear inside -- putting the scouts, and their motto, to the test.

The scouts, at first, were stunned. You could see it in their faces as they gathered Friday afternoon at their Scout Hut behind Peachtree Road United Methodist Church.

They looked at the parking space where they had left their camping trailer the night before, all packed and ready to roll. Troop 467 was about to go on a weekend camp-out in the North Georgia mountains. But their trailer was gone.

"I just think it's shocking, more than heartbreaking," said one of the scouts, James Sadlo. "I'm just shocked that somebody would actually do this."

Somebody stole their trailer during the night, and all four Patrols lost all their tents and cooking gear and supplies.

Click here to see troop's website, which shows photos of what they lost. 

They had been working for weeks fixing up their trailer for their trip this weekend, after a church member donated it to them.

"We had a goal.  The boys worked hard to build the trailer out," said Troop 467's scoutmaster, Val Carolin, to use the trailer not just for this weekend's trip, but for all their activities all year, especially their big summer camping trip.

"We spent a lot of time on that," James said. "It ended up really cool. Like, I saw it. It was really cool... It's gone. Just, poof."

"Yeah, they backed up their truck or whatever, and just hitched it on and took it," said Carolin. He figured the loss of the trailer and the gear has set the troop back at least $5,000; but he said the loss was more than monetary.

"This is unbelievable that someone would come and do this. There's no mistaking that what this trailer was.  It's clearly marked, with big markers on the side of it, clearly marked that this is Troop 467's trailer.  So they knew what they were doing.  People do amazing things, sometimes, unbelievable things."

But the scouts of Troop 467 quickly shifted -- from stunned, to resourceful.

Of course they did.

"We're Boy Scouts," Carolin said. "So we're prepared for the worst, if need be."

They rustled up whatever they could find in their attics and basements and kitchens, and packed all that -- and headed for their camp-out in the North Georgia mountains, right on schedule.

And they left an important message behind. In James Sadlo's words, as he looked into 11Alive's news camera --

"Technically, the trailer was ours.  But legally it was the church's.  Stealing from a church, that's really low.... You guys who stole it, if you're watching this, just give it back. Please."

The trailer is a Haulmaster. It's 6-feet by 10-feet.

It has, or it had, "Troop 467" plastered all over it.

The license tag is TL2L 369.