Youth Soccer Team From MN Gets Stolen Jerseys Back

A Minnesota youth soccer team that had its new jerseys stolen now gotten has them back, thanks to the Eagan Police Department. Eagan police recovered more than 40 uniforms belonging to a St. Paul youth soccer team during a traffic stop on Tuesday. And after photos of the stolen shirts were posted on social media, team members came forward on Thursday to pick them up.

According to KMSP-TV, the black, yellow, red and navy soccer jerseys with the words "Karen Youth United" stamped on the back went missing after they were recently sent from Thailand in a package delivered to an address in St. Paul. Eagan Police had responded to a possible restraining order violation on Yankee Doodle Road where they had pulled over a vehicle. Officers at the stop recognized the license plate from a felony theft at an outlet mall over the weekend.

And that's when they found more than $1,000 worth of clothing in the vehicle, including the soccer jerseys.

Police were able to determine that several of the clothing items had been taken from a mall and were able to return them to stores. But they initially were unable to determine the rightful owners of the soccer jerseys.

On Thursday, team members saw the Eagan Police Department's Facebook post and came to the station to retrieve the stolen uniforms. As for the thief, police did arrest a 24-year-old man who was booked into the Dakota County jail on a misdemeanor charge of providing false information to a peace officer, felony theft and a warrant for simple robbery.

St. Paul is home to one of the largest Karen communities in America, with more than 17,000 people settling in the city since the early 2000s.