CALIFORNIA COMPUTER THEFT AT SCHOOL Redlands Police News and Information: Campus fight leads police to stolen property, burglary suspects:

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Campus fight leads police to stolen property, burglary suspects
An investigation into a fight between two high school students led police to the recovery of stolen computer equipment from several burglaries earlier this year and the arrest of three teenagers for burglary and possession of stolen property.

While investigating the fight on the Redlands High School campus Tuesday, Redlands Police School Resource Officers Leslie Martinez and Jason Merriman learned that the altercation had developed over some of the stolen computer equipment.

Further investigation determined that one of the teens involved in the fight, 18-year-old Michael Hernandez, had been involved in at least two burglaries in June and July at Clement Middle School. The other boy, an 18-year-old Redlands resident, had bought some of the stolen laptop computers from Hernandez.

The fight developed when the single stolen computer charger shared by several people to recharge the stolen laptops was allegedly lost.

Police recovered two stolen laptops in the initial investigation. They then contacted Hernandez at his home where they located a number of other stolen items. Hernandez and another 14-year-old boy were arrested for burglary and possession of stolen property.

Police also contacted a 17-year-old boy and found him in possession of another stolen laptop and a stolen projector. He was arrested for possession of stolen property. After further investigation, police learned that he also participated in the one of the burglaries. On Wednesday he was charged with burglary.

Police have determined that the teens stole the equipment after breaking classroom windows at Clement Middle School. They then sold the laptops to acquaintances for $100 to $200 apiece.

In addition to the three laptop computers and projector, police recovered a stolen desktop computer and the missing charger as well as other electronic equipment, with a total estimated value of approximately $9,000.

Several more white Apple iBook laptops are still missing. Investigators encourage anyone who may have purchased computer equipment from Hernandez to return the items to police to determine if they were stolen.

Hernandez was transported to the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino. The 14- and 17-year-old boys were cited and released to their parents.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Alesia Castaneda at (909) 798-7534, ext. 2.