2 HELD IN SPORTS-GEAR THEFT.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Two Saugus teens were arrested Thursday morning after an alert store owner noticed that sporting equipment they were trying to sell matched the description of gear stolen from a customer, officials said.

Justin Hanna, 19, and Kevin Harsla, 18, were arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property and remained jailed in lieu of $2,500 bail each, said Lt. Steve Dolan of the Santa Clarita sheriff's station. They are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Newhall Superior Court.

Melissa Slawson, co-owner of Play It Again Sports in Valencia, said she called the sheriff's station after the teens tried to sell her golf clubs and hockey equipment that she believed had been stolen from a customer.

She said the customer gave her a description of the gear that was stolen along with his car last month outside the Spectrum Club.

Slawson said she became suspicious when she realized the golf clubs and hockey skates were too large for the teen trying to sell them.

``The first thing he told me was his dad gave him the clubs a month ago, but they were about 3 years old and way too big for him,'' Slawson said. ``He also said he couldn't use the hockey equipment anymore because he had a broken ankle. But the skates were size 13 and wouldn't fit him.''

The sporting goods store, which buys and sells used sporting equipment, has a list of property stolen from its customers on file at the cash register, said Jay Slawson, also a co-owner and manager.

``We helped recover about $30,000 in stolen property last year,'' he said. ``It's unbelievable how much sporting equipment is stolen in the city. We may be one of the safest cities in the country, but we have a lot of burglaries.''

The Slawsons say they require anyone selling used gear to provide identification, such as a driver's license, to track any stolen property they might inadvertently purchase.