VIDEO: Burglar targets Veterans Adaptive Sports Center

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A facility helping Mid-South veterans with disabilities was targeted by a crook over the weekend.

The Veterans Adaptive Sports Center at 2146 Ball Road near Airways Boulevard was burglarized of its cash box containing several hundred dollars Sunday morning.

The Center’s Chapter President and CEO, Rev. Leonard Perkins Sr., says the center creates a safe place for veterans who deal with challenges after serving our country.

“We are therapeutic environments designed to help veterans and their families to become whole again,” Perkins said.

He says it provides a safe place for veterans to feel normal.

“Come, hang out around people that understand them, and have similar experiences of things in their lives,” Perkins said.

Now, Memphis police are investigating a burglary that took place at the center.

Police say a man forced his way into the center around 3 a.m. Sunday, breaking the glass on the front door. He was caught on camera stealing a cash box containing several hundred dollars.

“That’s what happened, came right in, zeroed right in on the cashbox,” Perkins said. “He moved as if he knew exactly where he was going and what he was doing, which also suggests to me that he may have been in here before.”

Center officials say they’ve experienced occasional vandalism attempts, mainly involving neighborhood children, but this is the first time someone has broken in.

“He was definitely not a kid, and that makes it even more moronic and deplorable,” Perkins says.

Center officials say they feel like more than just money was taken from them.

“He damaged some people that have really participated in his being safe in these United States of America.”

The Veteran’s Center is asking anyone with information to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.

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