COLORADO THIEVES RETURN COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM HIGH SCHOOL Glenwood Springs Post Independent - Valley News

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — The Christmas spirit is all about giving, and it can be contagious. On Tuesday morning the Glenwood Springs Police Department received a rather unusual gift - so to speak.

Around 12:30 a.m. Garrett Edquist, 18, of Glenwood Springs, and Will Rinehart, 18, of Silt phoned the police dispatch from the emergency phone located on the exterior of the GSPD building at 101 W. Eighth St. in Glenwood Springs. That's when the two men told authorities that they were responsible for the stolen educational equipment taken from the Glenwood Springs Elementary School this past weekend.

"It was pretty amazing," said Police Chief Terry Wilson.

Six G4 iMacs, two G5 iMacs, an iBook and an LCD projector were taken from the school late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The equipment was worth approximately $10,000, GSES Principal Sonya Hemmen said.

The police and school's administration and students were extremely happy with the way this case played out.

"They (Edquist and Rinehart) just said that they were the ones that did it and that they wanted to return the stuff." Wilson said. "So, we let them do that."

And the Christmas Spirit prevails. But maybe not for everyone involved.

Edquist and Rinehart were arrested and taken to Garfield County Jail where they were both charged with class-four felony theft, second-degree burglary (a class-four felony), and criminal mischief (a class-two misdemeanor).

Over at GSES, an announcement was made over the intercom in the early hours of the day as students settled into the day's lessons. The announcement that thecomputers had been returned and that the police had the two suspects in custody filled the building with delighted cheers from students.

"You could hear the kids cheering from all over the school," Hemmen said. "The students were pretty upset about it and are really happy that it's all been returned."

Apparently, Edquist and Rinehart were able to enter the school because, according to Wilson, they had come across some keys to the school's doors. They keys were turned in to the police at the time of the confession.

Police delivered all of the equipment to the school, and before 11 a.m. Tuesday morning the students were back to their old tricks playing chess on thecomputers - and doing a little learning, too, of course.

"It was a lot of equipment that is vital to the education of the students," Hemmen said. "We are really glad that they returned it."