Inside job suspected in Ada Gym burglary

The weight room at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium was burglarized over the weekend and an official suspects it was an inside job.

“I believed it’s an inside job, as when I came to the gym, the door (northeast entrance) was closed, but not locked and not broken. There was no forced entry,” said Northern Marianas Athletics development coach Elias Rangamar.

Rangamar, who is a former staff of the Division of Sports and Recreation, which oversees the Ada Gym, said he went to the facility last Saturday morning for a training session with the girls U15 basketball team and was surprised to find out the door was closed, but not locked. He then proceeded to the weight room, which was adjacent to the gym and there found several dumbbells and Olympic weights missing.

“The strange thing was the new arrangement of the dumbbells. The heavier dumbbells are now placed at the rack where the lighter ones were formerly located before they were stolen,” Rangamar said.

The Olympic weights were all donations and were specifically put at the weight room for the use of NMA athletes.

“It may not be that much for others, but it’s a big deal for our athletes. They have regular weights training for strength and conditioning, but with several dumbbells and Olympic weights gone, they have to improvise for now so as not to disrupt their preparations for future tournaments,” he added.

NMA will be sending four athletes to Apia, Samoa later this month for the 2011 Oceania Regional Championships and will also have representatives to the IAAF World Youth Athletics in France, World Championship in Korea, and the Pacific Games in New Caledonia.

Rangamar raised concern on the burglary at the facility, as NMA is now in charge of the maintenance and use of the weight room and the Oleai Sports Complex track and field facility based on the memorandum of understanding signed by NMA, the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, and the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association.

“It’s just unfortunate that just when we’re about to iron things out here this burglary happened. We’re very disappointed and feel bad for our athletes,” Rangamar said.

The coach suspects there may be more equipment missing and they need to check the inventory from the Division of Sports and Recreation to have a clearer picture about the facility.

The NMA official estimated the cost of the stolen equipment through the years at $5,000.

Division of Sports and Recreation deputy director Jojo Attao admitted that if an inventory done two years ago is compared to the one they had about three weeks ago, there will be a lot of disparities.

“We have missing dumbbells, Olympic weights, free weights, and other stuff. We reported the burglary incidents in the past to the police, including last Saturday’s but we haven’t gotten any feedbacks,” Attao said.

A few weeks ago, according to Rangamar, another official left his bag at the gym and when he came back after only a few minutes, it was gone. In the past years, players who had games at the facility also had valuable items stolen.

Right now, the Ada Gym is temporarily closed to the public. The restrooms are undergoing repairs and Attao said next up for fixing are the roofs, flooring, and bleachers.

Later this month, Pacific Games Council officials will be in town for a site visit and to gauge the CNMI’s capability to host the 2017 Pacific Mini Games. The visitors are expected to tour the Oleai Sports Complex.