NEWHALL (CBSLA.com) — Sheriff’s deputies are looking for two suspects they said are responsible for burglarizing four schools in the Santa Clarita Valley over spring break.
Investigators said in total, at least 11 computers, a television and cash were stolen between March 29 and April 5 from Old Orchard Elementary School, Sierra Vista Junior High School, Newhall Elementary School and William S. Hart High School.
“Suspects enter the administration offices, ransack the office, steal computers, televisions, cash,” said Deputy Joshua Dubin of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities believe all four incidents are related because the alleged criminals, described to be men between 18 and 21 years old with thin builds, tried to pry open doors and windows the same way.
Last Friday at Hart High, the suspects, who were caught on security video, made entry by climbing through a tiny window.
Chiara Rivas, a second-grade teacher at Old Orchard Elementary, said, “They had just taken everything off the shelves, out from the cabinets and the cupboards, threw it on the floor, and their most expensive things like laptops were missing.”
Rivas said in a cash-strapped school district, these crimes have put students at a disadvantage.
“It’s hard because now we’re going to have to replace those and I don’t know if we have the funding for that right now,” she said.
Deputies have added extra patrols around area schools to prevent burglaries.
