The St. Paul Police Department issued a crime alert Friday regarding kids running a scam in local neighborhoods by asking for donations for a fictional basketball program.
“Since May 1 we’ve seen a rash of burglaries in the Mac-Groveland and Summit-University neighborhoods,” police said. “But these aren’t your typical burglars … because they are kids.”
Police have received numerous calls about boys between the ages of 11 and 16 going door to door soliciting donations for the “Webber Park Spartan Basketball Team.”
If no one answers the door, the boys will walk around the house looking for entry points, police said.
Once they find a way in, they burglarize the house.
The boys carry with them a crudely made flier replete with typos and grammatical errors including misspelling the name of the community program they represent.
“We are a part of the Webber Park community center and on behalf of Minneapolis parks and recreation center our goal is to reach the amount of 1,000 dollar by the end of the month anything help from a few dollars and up all donations will be going toward transportation fees, concession fees jerky’s and ETC,” the flier reads.
It is decorated with clip art from the NBA, a Spartan jersey and a basketball trophy flipped, so the word “basketball” is backward.
The contact information includes the address for Weber Park at 4115 Grimes Ave. in Edina and a phone number for Edina’s after-hours line.
Once the crime alert was posted on Facebook, multiple people responded in the comments saying they had seen those boys and that flier on Charles Avenue, the Hazel Park neighborhood, White Bear Lake and Roseville. Two said they were approached in a parking lot.
Police recommend residents keep their doors locked, even if they are in the yard, ask a trusted neighbor to keep an eye on their home when going on vacation, and to call the Community Engagement Unit at 651-266-5485 to be added to the House Watch program in which reserve officers will check on the home.
“Neighborhoods are safer when we all watch out for each other, so please call 911 if you see any suspicious activity in your neighborhood,” the alert said.