EXCLUSIVE: Equipment trailer for Seattle underprivileged kids soccer league allegedly stolen by prolific offender

Valor Soccer’s season was prematurely canceled in October following years of theft, multiple break-ins to their cars, and vandals wrecking a playing field.

In the latest incident, vandals stole a $16,000 trailer from the league for underprivileged kids from its headquarters in Maple Valley last weekend. The suspect is a prolific offender.

Valor CEO Dean Aldridge told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI that in addition to sports equipment, the trailer also contained donations for a food bank for Thanksgiving, noting, “We probably had $10,000 worth of food in there as well.”

Aldrige filed a police report and posted photos on social media, hoping someone would spot the trailer. One tipster said he saw a similar one in the area.

Aldridge and his father-in-law hopped in a truck and began driving the area looking for the trailer and found it in nearby Renton, where a man had just finished putting a new coat of paint on it.

Aldridge confronted Blake Lyons in the driveway, but the 32-year-old would not allow him to inspect the trailer and pushed him out of the way,

Aldridge was able to open the trailer and saw league-branded equipment inside and threatened to call the authorities. 

Lyons then jumped in his silver Toyota pickup truck and sped off, attempting to run over Aldridge in the process.

Sherriff’s deputies who arrived on the scene told Aldridge that Lyons had a lengthy criminal history with dozens of arrests, including 9 felony convictions for theft, burglary, and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Lyons is expected in court next month for allegedly ramming Renton Police cruisers with his car during an attempted getaway.

Several days later, Aldridge found a threatening note on the door of his soccer headquarters door, while Lyons remains at large. The letter said, “If charges get pressed on me, I’m coming after you. I promise.”

Aldridge told Hoffman that they have had to close the office as a result of the threat.

“They're looking for him right now. They're trying to find him. But it's sad Ari, this lawless state we live in.”

Aldridge added that one of the league’s recreational coaches named Sarah Baileigh, a single mother of 4 children, the oldest at 17, was killed in a head-on collision with another vehicle.” The man driving the other vehicle was under the influence and driving a stolen car. He fled the Fred Meyers [pharmacy] in Covington when the police tried to talk to him. The officers did not give chase, and the result was the death of 2 individuals, one being him,” said Aldridge.

Democrats in the Washington State legislature “reformed” police pursuit laws in 2020 and no longer allow police to pursue stolen vehicles, which has led to a spike in vehicle theft. Several people, including a 12-year-old girl, have been killed by thieves in stolen vehicles.

“We're held hostage to these lawless criminals and yet our state's doing nothing about them.”