MASSACHUSETTS COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SCHOOLLowell Sun Online - Home$10G in computer equipment stolen from Lowell school
By ROBERT MILLS, Sun Staff

LOWELL -- Thousands of dollars in laptop computers and other high-tech equipment was stolen from the Morey Elementary School Monday night in a theft that has police interviewing about a dozen people with access to the building.

Capt. Robert DeMoura said no forced entry was found, and police have interviewed people who would have had access when the thefts occurred sometime between 6 p.m. and midnight. The school is located at 114 Pine St. in the Highlands.

?There's a number of people we're interviewing that have legal access to the building,? DeMoura said.

He said all students would have been out of the building when the theft occurred because there were no after-school activities at the time. The Morey School dismisses at 1:55 p.m.

DeMoura would not say exactly how many items were taken, or describe them, saying that information is crucial to the ongoing investigation.

Police Superintendent Edward Davis called the theft ?sizable,? though, and a source said the equipment was worth more than $10,000.

The equipment was taken from rooms throughout the school, including classrooms and offices, DeMoura said.

Superintendent of Schools Karla Brooks Baehr said the thefts did not greatly impact the school's computer labs or students.

?It's having a very limited impact on the student program,? Brooks Baehr said last night. ?The computer lab is basically intact, and students are still able to use it to do the core work.?

She could offer little other comment, citing the investigation.

?It's unfortunate and frustrating and I hope the police can get to the bottom of it,? Brooks Baehr said.

DeMoura said solving the case could be tough because such thefts are often well-planned.

?They may have had an exit plan for where the computers would go,? he said. ?They're not selling them on street corners.?

The school was a polling place for two precincts during Tuesday's city elections, but DeMoura said the theft occurred before anyone associated with the election was in the building.

The incident comes less than a week after two 15-year-old boys were caught inside the Bartlett Middle School on Wannalancit Street.

An alarm alerted police to that break-in about 3:30 a.m. last Friday.

The boys were charged with breaking and entering, possession of burglary tools, larceny from a building, and malicious destruction of property after officers found them with cash and other items, police said.