Trailer Stolen in Atlanta

[Drivencrazy]

Today, Thursday April 15th, Team Driven FRC #1730 was at the Championship event in the Georgia Dome and left our trailer locked up at our hotel.

Well, when we returned to the hotel it was noticed by my father (it's actually his trailer that our team uses) that the trailer was not where we had parked. Well we asked the hotel staff if they had to move it and eventually came to the conclusion that it was stolen.

Much of the evening was filled with discussions with the police and with hotel staff looking at security video. We discussed what we believed to be in the trailer and came to the conclusion that it was two Home Depot carts that we borrowed (Yes we asked to use them) an air compressor, some of our totes (empty), and some tie-down straps. While the contents of the trailer were not so valuable, the trailer was pretty nice and even had a vinyl sticker with our team logo on it.

We were initially un-aware of where the trailer was and assumed that it was lost forever and was probably already torn up. Much to our surprise, some of the great people from team 1305 from North Bay, Ontario happened to have spotted the trailer in a run-down parking lot on their way back to our hotel.

Well they told the police officer and then came and told us. We were told by some people at the police station to head to the parking lot and positively identify the trailer. So, not knowing where it was, we asked a couple members of the team if they could take us to where it was. Alex Wilcox and Kim Stahl from team 1305 were nice and gracious enough to miss their team meeting and help us out.

I on behalf of Team Driven would like to formally thank Alex and Kim for their incredible gracious proffesionalism and kind spirit. It is great to know that the FIRST community is so willing to go out of their way and help out a team in need.

Good luck the rest of this weekend.

Clint Ott

[DarkFlame145]

wow I am very sorry to hear, that someone would steal your trailer. I hope they are caught and feel the full power of the law.

[eugenebrooks]

Trailer wheel boots

http://www.pickupspecialties.com/Whe..._boot_lock.htm

come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You should get one,
or two, and use them...

[ttldomination]

Should also consider a trailer hitch lock. We have one for ours and it's just something that doesn't keep our mentors up at night.

As far as finding and stuff, that's AWESOME. Props to team 1305 for finding it.

[waialua359]

Glad you got it back. We teamed up today and never even heard. Did I mention how great you were at feeding balls to us today!

[LLM]

Team Driven, welcome to the world of crime! What is it with we KC teams? So glad yours was retrieved. Good luck tomorrow. You are representing the region very well!

[vic burg]

That really stinks! Glad you got your trailer back, though. But I mean really, who would steal it?!

[Racer26]

I couldn't believe it when they were announcing 1305 winning the GP award because of this act.

Kudos to 1305 for finding it.

Takes some pretty big nerve to steal a trailer belonging to a high-school robotics team.

[Dancin103]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

I couldn't believe it when they were announcing 1305 winning the GP award because of this act.

Kudos to 1305 for finding it.

Takes some pretty big nerve to steal a trailer belonging to a high-school robotics team.

Yes it does. When they announced the GP award and I heard this story I was completely shocked. 1305 idk what 1730 would have done if you had not have founding. It's an incredible story.

[Josh Drake]

We were fortunate enough that the person that cut the lock on our trailer and got inside didn't steal anything. I guess some scrap aluminum, a cart and stool were not worth it. We were parked just North of the GWCC in a lot with many other trailers. We felt it was pretty safe. I guess somebody wanted to see what was inside. Did anybody else park there and have any problems?

Glad to hear everything worked out for you.

[DonRotolo]

A happy ending to what could have been an awful story. Props to 1305 for that act of kindness.

I wonder if you guys remember our team from last year at Palmetto? Probably not a coincidence, but this year we were Curie finalists with 1986, one of your sister teams from Lee's Summit.

I don't know if I publicly thanked 1730 for this, but last year their whole team signed a letter of thanks to me, which was presented to me at our team picnic. I think Ciara was behind it. Pretty cool...