An Amsterdam teen is behind bars after police say he robbed a charity. As YNN's Maria Valvanis explains, thousands of dollars worth of items donated to the Stop the Violence organization are now missing.

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AMSTERDAM, N.Y. -- Karen Clay suffered from domestic abuse for years, but what's hurting her now is discovering more than $50,000 worth of items donated to her charity, Stop the Violence, to help others like her, were stolen out of her storage garage. What makes matters worse, Carlos Figueroa, 18, the teen Clay hired to oversee the garage, is the same person police say robbed it.

"He really broke our hearts. I've never encountered anything this bad before. We secured that very good, so when we saw that it wasn't broken into and only Carlos had the key, we knew something was up," said Clay.

Police say they discovered several of the missing items in Figueroa’s home, which is right next to the garage.

"He made some admissions as to how he came into possession of the property and because of that, we charged him with the burglary and possession of stolen property," said Detective Lieutenant Kurt Conroy.

But TVs, clothes, speakers and other donations are still missing and police say without Figueroa's cooperation, they could be gone for good.

"As far as him not telling as he knows where some of the items are, it will be pretty difficult to track down at this time," said Conroy.

Clay said, "If he can replace everything that he took from Stop the Violence, I will fight for him in court, I will. Please bring the stuff back. Please, if anyone has the stuff, we'll pay them as a reward. Please, we need to auction them off and raise money for these people. They have nothing. Please."

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Amsterdam Police Department.