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Tip leads to
Agbayani film
in restroom

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By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

It looks like a television show featuring New York Mets baseball player Benny Agbayani will go on after some of the film and videotapes stolen from a production crew was recovered this week.

Major League Baseball productions was in Honolulu to film an episode of "This Week in Baseball" featuring Agbayani. Producer Taylor Kurosaki was having dinner at Aloha Tower Dec. 3 when thieves broke into his rental car and took six rolls of unprocessed 16 mm film, eight Sony Betacam SP tapes, a camera and a laptop computer.

On Wednesday, an anonymous tip to police led officers to a restroom at Heeia Kea Boat Harbor, where all the film and five of the eight videotapes were recovered.

"He's so well loved that even when an unfortunate thing like that happens, we get stuff back," Kurosaki said. "I think that's pretty amazing."

If the film and videotapes remain intact, Kurosaki, a 1988 Punahou graduate, said he won't be returning to Hawaii next month to reshoot the footage and the half-hour show could be aired as early as June, he said.

Two shorter feature pieces won't be produced, however, unless the remaining tapes are returned. The three tapes include interviews with Agbayani's family and photographs of him growing up.