Problem selecting item in radcombobox

I have a project that uses telerik controls... I'm using a radtabstrip (just creates tabs in a page).. one tab is called safety..
I have another page that is displayed inside the tabstrip

On that page I have two radcombo boxes that are filled by a sqldatasource
I also have a sub that is used to fill all the controls on the page with information from sql.
in the case of the comboxes it takes the keyfiled (just a number) finds that number in the combobox and selects that item
for some reason I am getting an out of range error...

Here is the section where I select the value of the combobox (the entire sub will follow)
thanks in advance experts

Dim item As RadComboBoxItem = Nothing
                    If sdr(14).ToString = "" Then
                        item = cmbPriHelo.FindItemByValue("Helicopter")
                        item.Selected = True
                        'cmbPriHelo.Items.FindItemByValue("Helicopter").Selected = True
                    Else
                        'this is where the error happens
                        item = cmbPriHelo.FindItemByValue(sdr(14).ToString())
                        item.Selected = True
                    End If

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 Private Sub FillForm()
        Dim ProjId As String = ProjectInfo.ProjID
        Dim strConnString As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("TimberOpsConnectionString").ConnectionString
        Dim strQuery As String = "select KEYField, Lat_Degrees1, Lat_Minutes1, Lat_Seconds1, Long_Degrees1, Long_Minutes1, Long_Seconds1, LandingZoneDesc, LZ_Average_Elevation, Evac_Form_Authorized, JS_Radio_Comm, JS_Mobile_Comm, JS_Designated_Comm_Pt, JS_Comm_Pt_Description, Primary_Helicopter, Secondary_Helicopter from tblProject where KEYField = " & ProjId
        Dim con As New SqlConnection(strConnString)
        Dim cmd As New SqlCommand()
        cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text
        cmd.CommandText = strQuery
        cmd.Connection = con
        Try
            con.Open()
            Dim sdr As SqlDataReader = cmd.ExecuteReader()
            While sdr.Read()
                Try

                    txtHeliLatDeg.Text = sdr(1).ToString()
                    txtHeliLatMin.Text = sdr(2).ToString()
                    txtHeliLatSec.Text = sdr(3).ToString()
                    txtHeliLongDeg.Text = sdr(4).ToString()
                    txtHeliLongMin.Text = sdr(5).ToString()
                    txtHeliLongSec.Text = sdr(6).ToString()
                    txtLZoneDesc.Text = sdr(7).ToString()
                    txtLZoneElevation.Text = sdr(8).ToString()
                    If sdr(9).ToString = "True" Then
                        btnAppEvacForm.Checked = True
                    Else
                        btnAppEvacForm.Checked = False
                    End If
                    If sdr(10).ToString = "True" Then
                        btnJobSiteRadio.Checked = True
                    Else
                        btnJobSiteRadio.Checked = False
                    End If
                    If sdr(11).ToString = "True" Then
                        btnJobSiteMobileComm.Checked = True
                    Else
                        btnJobSiteMobileComm.Checked = False
                    End If

                    If sdr(12).ToString = "True" Then
                        btnDesCommPt.Checked = True
                    Else
                        btnDesCommPt.Checked = False
                    End If
                    txtCommPointDesc.Text = sdr(13).ToString()
                    Dim item As RadComboBoxItem = Nothing
                    If sdr(14).ToString = "" Then
                        item = cmbPriHelo.FindItemByValue("Helicopter")
                        item.Selected = True
                        'cmbPriHelo.Items.FindItemByValue("Helicopter").Selected = True
                    Else
                        'this is where the error happens
                        item = cmbPriHelo.FindItemByValue(sdr(14).ToString())
                        item.Selected = True
                    End If
                    MsgBox("made it here")
                    If sdr(15).ToString = "" Then
                        'cmbSecHelo.Items.FindItemByValue("Helicopter").Selected = True
                    Else
                        cmbSecHelo.Items.FindItemByValue(sdr(15).ToString()).Selected = True
                    End If
                Catch ex As Exception
                    MsgBox(ex.Message)
                End Try

            End While
        Catch ex As Exception
            MsgBox(ex.Message)
        Finally
            con.Close()
            con.Dispose()
        End Try
    End Sub

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