Del Mar man gets his stolen sports gear back after cracking the case for the cops

After thieves stole baseball equipment from his truck, a Del Mar man took matters into his own hands, recovering the gear within 24 hours and helping police identify people connected to the theft.

Cody White said several pieces of equipment were stolen before daybreak last Friday from the back of his truck, including bats, gloves, shoes and a gear bag. Among the items taken was a glove White described as especially meaningful because he used it during high school.

“I made a lot of really good plays with this glove, a lot of amazing things with this glove,” White said.

White, who manages a North County restaurant and has played baseball since he was 3 years old, said the loss of the glove was particularly difficult.

“When it hit me that I had that glove in there, that’s when I kind of broke down,” White said.

After reporting the theft, White’s roommate reviewed security camera footage from the driveway. The video showed a man opening the gate to White’s truck, ignoring other items and taking the baseball equipment bag before carrying it to a car.

“It just seemed like he knew what he was doing,” White said. “Either he did it before or had done it in the past.”

White and a neighbor then went door-to-door collecting surveillance video from nearby homes. Additional footage showed the same man searching a vehicle across the street and a woman checking car doors around the cul-de-sac. The pair was later seen leaving the neighborhood in a Chrysler sedan, according to White.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to see my stuff again,” White said, adding later, “I started doing the homework myself.”

White said he searched Facebook Marketplace, several pawn shops and multiple Play It Again Sports locations across the region. Within 24 hours, he located his stolen equipment at a Play It Again Sports store in La Mesa.

According to White, the store also provided information about the woman who allegedly sold the equipment.

“They gave me her full name, her address, her phone number, her weight, her height,” White said. “They had all the driver’s license information.”

White shared the surveillance video and information he collected with the detective assigned to the case. In an email, the detective told White that the man seen in the video had been identified and that the case would soon be forwarded to the district attorney’s office.

White said the detective also included a lighthearted message.

“ ‘If you ever get tired of the restaurant industry, the police are always hiring — you can put me down as a reference,’ ” White said. “I thought, ‘That’s pretty funny.’ ”

White said a receipt showed the stolen equipment was sold to the resale store less than seven hours after it was taken.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.