Copper thefts force Shadow Hills High School’s baseball team to reschedule games

Baseball players were left fighting for sunlight after copper was stolen from the Shadow Hills High School stadium lights last Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Desert Sands Unified School District said the theft resulted in about $2,200 worth of damage.

The theft has caused headaches for SHHS’s baseball team, who now can’t play games at night. The team’s past couple of games have had to be rescheduled to the day.

“We were all looking forward to a nice evening with our families to come out and see some baseball and we’ve all had to change our schedules,” said Dan Borgen, a SHHS parent.

Monday’s highly anticipated game between Palm Desert High School and SHHS was forced to reschedule three hours earlier.

“Students have to leave class early because of a 3:30 game instead of completing all of their classes,” Borgen said.

According to parents at the field, it’s the third school in the district to be hit. An athletic director at La Quinta High School said copper was stolen from their stadium lights last month.

Sgt Dan Marshall of the Indio Police Department couldn’t confirm the LQHS theft but he did say Indio High School was also targeted last month. School officials said 50 yards worth of copper were taken, fortunately, it did not affect scheduling.

“We have our Street Crimes Unit. That group of detectives, they are the ones who are out there and talk to people on the streets who may know who’s doing it,” Marshall said. “We reach out to our recyclers and we say ‘Hey if you see this coming back, there are certain rules they have to follow if they think it’s stolen property they have to notify us.'”

“For the culprits, if they don’t get prosecuted and discovered, I hope they get the message from us, that what they did is really having an effect on a lot of kids and adults and I wish they would think about that,” Borgen said.

Sgt Marshall urges anyone with information to contact their local authorities.