‘Why Are We Stealing From Kids?' $20,000 in Batting Equipment Stolen From Small Business Owner in Maryland

Police in Prince George's County, Maryland, are looking for a stolen trailer containing $20,000 worth of batting cage and exercise equipment inside.

The trailer was stolen from an indoor batting cage facility in Capitol Heights owned by Andre Hockaday.

Hockaday opened his business after having to drive his son, who plays baseball, across the river to a facility in Alexandria, Virginia. "We didn't have anywhere to go in PG County," Hockaday recalled.

So, in 2016, he bought a baseball pitching machine for his son and a trailer to transport it to parks.

"Kids would come out and use the machine, so I was like, 'Maybe this is something'," he said.

In 2019, Hockaday opened On Deck Batting Cages in Capitol Heights. The business did so well that he opened a second location this summer, just a mile away. He was renovating the first location and was storing everything outside in the trailer he once used for his son's pitching machine.

But on Oct. 8, security camera footage captured someone driving into Hockaday's business' parking lot and stealing that trailer, along with everything inside.

"Exercise equipment, a power rack, turf, I had cage nets, L screens, baseball equipment. So everything that I can fit into the cage was basically in there," he said.

In all, it was about $20,000 worth of batting cage equipment gone.

"I pulled in and my stomach just dropped," Hockaday said.

While the batting cages host as the occasional date night, it's mostly young baseball and softball players who use the business, making the loss all the more painful, he said.

"So my business is catered toward kids. Why are we stealing from kids?" Hockaday said. "You know? So that's kind of what hurts the most."

Hockaday said renovations inside the business were going quickly that he was hoping to have it open by November — but now that the equipment's been stolen, he thinks it's going to have to happen sometime in the winter.

Hockaday said that because the theft didn't happen inside his business and because the trailer wasn't connected to his vehicle at the time, the loss is not covered by insurance. He said winter is his busiest season, so delaying reopening will have an impact. He's set up a fundraising effort on his business website.

But he said he won't allow this temporary setback to hold him back.

"I'm not going to let a thief stop my flow," he said.