Military dad begs trailer thief to return son's uniforms

BRADENTON (FOX13) - After losing his son to war, a military dad in Bradenton has lost the few pieces he had left to remember his son.

Keith Dougherty's storage trailer has sat in the parking lot behind Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Church in Manatee County for a decade. He works at the church as a maintenance supervisor.

On Wednesday morning, an employee called him saying the trailer was missing. He used it to store tax documents, new camping and paintball equipment for his family, and most importantly, memorabilia of his son who died fighting in Iraq.

"His boots, his uniforms, his battle fatigues…It means nothing to nobody, but it means something to me and my daughter," said Dougherty.

Marine Corporal Scott Dougherty was killed in July of 2004 when his battalion was hit with tar bombs, according to Dougherty.

"He didn't make it. After the second explosion, they had to use DNA to find out who was who," said Dougherty.

Dougherty wears the dog tags taken off his son's body daily, but the rest of what's left of him, including his military ribbons, uniforms and old clothes stored in black duffel bags, was kept locked inside the trailer.

Dougherty filed a report with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, but was told that his trailer could not be entered into the state and national theft database because he did not register it with a vehicle identification number (VIN).

"They can have the trailer and everything else, just let me have the military stuff. That's all I ask," said Dougherty.

He's asking anyone who finds the military uniforms, which have his son's name on them, or anyone who took the items to contact him anonymously to return them at 941-779-4020.