By Marc Topkin, Times Staff Writer
Sunday, March 27, 2011
BRADENTON — Evan Longoria, David Price and Reid Brignac tried to look at the positive: None were home Saturday when the Port Charlotte house the three Rays rented for spring training was broken into and robbed.
"Thank God nobody was there," Brignac said Sunday. "If we were there, it would have been a different story."
"That was one of the biggest things," Longoria said, "that everybody was okay and safe, and nobody had to fight their way out of a home invasion robbery. … A multitude of different things could have happened, and there could have been people injured."
Still, it was a troubling event, as their electronics, jewelry and other items were stolen in the middle of the day while they were at the game at the nearly adjacent Charlotte Sports Park.
"They took pretty much everything that was ours inside the house," Longoria said.
Price, who as a starting pitcher gets to leave before the game is over, was the first to return and noticed some plants were knocked over. He then saw that every drawer was open, realized what happened and called the others, who raced over.
"Everything was gone," Brignac said. "It's just a crappy situation."
Among the items taken were a 60-inch flat screen TV, three iPads, two Xbox game systems, headphones, Price's laptop and several of Price's high-priced watches that were packed in a bag of clothes. "They probably didn't even know what was in it," he said. Price estimated his loss in excess of $50,000, though he said his most expensive watch was insured.
"David got the worst part of it," Brignac said. "I feel bad for him."
The players praised the response and the efforts of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office and said they were told there were several good leads, possibly some people who had stopped at the house earlier in the week to ask if it was to be available for rent and who the players told they were moving out soon.
"The good thing was that nobody was there and nobody got hurt and everything is material that we can replace," Brignac said. "It's very unfortunate that people would stoop that low. That's what we get for being trusting, kind people. These random people came up and we could have been like, 'No, y'all get out of here.' "
Charlotte Sheriff's watch commander Sgt. Mike Krzysiak confirmed the break-in and the investigation but said he couldn't provide any further details.
"They promised us they'll do their best to find whoever did it," Longoria said. "Hopefully, they can do some good police work and figure it out and try to recover some of the stuff."
This was the second time this spring Longoria has been victimized, as his 1967 Camaro was stolen in early March from the lot of an Arizona shop where it was being refurbished.
"It's unfortunate," he said. "You just hope that karma catches up with whoever did it."
Marc Topkin can be reached at topkin@sptimes.com.