After the news got out last week that a Billings Boy Scout troop had had a trailer full of camping gear stolen, community members responded with donations of money and gear.
The publicity also rattled the conscience of the thief, apparently.
Scoutmaster Rick Lindholm of Troop 373 said a member of the Billings Stake Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 2929 Belvedere Drive, left a meeting at the center Sunday night to find an anonymous letter on her windshield. The trailer was believed to have been stolen from the church parking lot, just off Grand Avenue and 30th Street West, on Jan. 12.
Lindhold said the letter, which he turned over to the Police Department, “explained how the thief felt guilty for taking the trailer and gave us directions on where they left it for us to find.” It was parked on Riverside Avenue near the Western Surgar Cooperative plant on State Avenue.
The trailer, with some of the gear inside, was recovered Sunday night. On Monday, police reported finding most of the rest of the gear next to a dumpster at Trinity Lutheran School, just down the street at 2802 Belvedere Drive.
Lindhold said the only items not recovered were a couple of large wall tents and two propane heaters. The trailer was in good shape, except where the thief or thieves broke a lock off the trailer hitch, and where they attempted to scrape off the vehicle indentification numbers, he said.
Troop 373 is going ahead with a previously planned fundraiser, set for Wednesday from 5 to 9 p.m. It will be at Candy Town USA, 820 Shiloh Crossing, Ste. 1. Donations will be accepted and ice cream will be donated to all comers by Candy Town USA.
“Obviously, our goal doesn’t need to be as high anymore,” Lindholm said, “but if we raise more than we need, we’ll find a good place for it.”
