Mini-Cassia Christmas Council Burglarized, Suspects Caught

BURLEY, Idaho ( KMVT / KSVT ) Four Burley residents are behind bars tonight after authorities suspect they stole from a local charity.

Cassia County deputies say they burglarized the Mini–Cassia Christmas Council over the weekend, stealing thousands of dollars worth of toys.

A patrol deputy Monday night checked into a suspicious Burley, Idaho Buy, Sell or Trade ad. A relative of the suspects allegedly posted the ad, according to Sgt. Robert Taylor.

20–year Kaden Clark is facing burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and grand theft. A 14 and 15 year–old were both dealt the same charges. While another 14 year–old is charged with possession of stolen property.

The investigation is ongoing and others could face charges.

Right now during the summertime, volunteers stop by the Mini–Cassia Christmas Council maybe once every couple of weeks, but due to the rainfall, Linda Short decided to come by and see if there was any potential rain damage to the building, considering the building was under dire need of repairs. And that's when Short noticed the toys were missing.

We are in a pickle this year. Our building has needed major repairs in our budget. I don't know if we're going to be able to replace things at this point.

Short said, "on the main level you'll find tons of toys saved for the youth of the Mini–Cassia community. They service almost 500 families."

Short added, "our motorcycle friends, Brothers Speed take care of us every year, they deliver over 30,000 dollars of toys every year. This could have easily take 10,000." "We had boys' remotes climbing the wall. We had just ordered a whole case of helicopters, they were ready to go."

Cassia County deputies say they accessed the building from a rooftop.
"So they entered here, managed to get down in, in order to get out, they even found cinder blocks in our building and they had to have made several trips," Short explained.

While law enforcement has recovered some toys, a lot of it was broken. Items that the community purchased for those in need.

"We had children last year who came in 8–9 years old who have saved allowance and went and bought things for children who would have not had an allowance and they delivered them to us personally."

If you want to help, please call Linda at (208) 436-0571 or (208) 312-1726.