DAYTON — Right before Christmas, a local indoor BMX center is dealing with theft.
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Dayton Indoor BMX, along Edmund Road, lost at least $20,000 of inventory after people cut the locks on the doors and got inside.
Hundreds of people, including Olympians, use the indoor track for races and training in the winter.
About 20 bikes used to teach kids in the community how to ride are now gone.
Eric Jones is a track operator at Dayton Indoor BMX and said other items are still missing.
“They took about 20 bikes, probably 10 or 15 helmets and our four-wheeler,” Jones said.
He believes a group of people broke in between Thursday and Saturday morning, found what they wanted to take, and escaped through a hole they cut in the fence.
“It’s just kind of sad I mean; you know that all the little kids that come in here to use those bikes and that equipment and everything. Now we’re just going to have to try and replace all of that,” Jones said.
Replacing the stolen items will cost the staff of Dayton Indoor BMX thousands.
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“We probably lost about $20,000,” Jones said. “We take money out of our own pockets if we need to.”
Jones believes familiar faces are behind this burglary.
“It would have to be somebody that had been in here before, because like the air compressor and stuff was not visible to anyone, or the four-wheeler, that they took. It’s really dark in here when the lights are off,” Jones said
The lights inside the track aren’t somewhere that can be turned on and off easily. Therefore, Jones thinks those who stole the items are familiar with the facility.
“They had to know where the lights are,” Jones said.
Jones did call the police and said they should be back this week to check security cameras.
“I don’t want to see the cameras actually because I don’t want to know the people that did this,” Jones said.
He said it would be “sickening” to find out people who he knows burglarized the place.
“Karma has... karma will probably get you for that,” Jones said.
Jones said the staff has purchased new locks on the doors and will be installing security cameras inside.
No races are scheduled until New Year’s Day, so the staff hopes to replace the stolen items by then.
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