MICHIGAN UPDATE ON STOLEN COMPUTERS TAKEN FROM SCHOOL Car, stolen goods help trace suspects: "Car, stolen goods help trace suspects
Saturday, January 06, 2007
By Kym Reinstadler
The Grand Rapids Press

Three young men who police suspect in a series of school break-ins were nabbed this week after being traced to a vehicle that contained property stolen from some of the buildings.

On Thursday, Jonathan Mayhanagian and Joshua Todd Stanton, both 21 and of Wyoming, and Travis Josef White, 21, of Grandville, were arraigned on charges of breaking and entering and safe-breaking, stemming from break-ins at three area schools on Tuesday.

Police say the suspects were linked to a car containing stolen property that was found that morning near Lowell High School, which had just been illegally entered.

Authorities now are investigating whether the trio is linked to as many as nine break-ins -- mostly school buildings -- in Kent and Ottawa counties.

A laptop computer found in the vehicle was taken Dec. 29 from Jenison High School, where keys were taken from a custodian's office. One of those keys opened all the locks at the adjacent Jenison Public Schools administration building, where Superintendent Tom TenBrink said his laptop and his secretary's desktop computer were stolen. TenBrink's computer was among the items found.

"I'm so grateful to get it back. I'm also glad that they weren't able to get into it. They told police they weren't able to penetrate the firewalls, and that's great news," TenBrink said. His laptop included his written evaluations of district administrators and meeting memos. No data on students was stored on it, he said.

All locks since have been changed.

TenBrink fears thieves may have "just dumped" his secretary's computer because it would have been bulky to transport, but he remains hopeful police will recover it.

Ottawa County sheriff's officials are investigating if the suspects may be linked to school and business break-ins in the Georgetown Township area, Lt. Mark Bennett said. Those include incidents at Jenison's Rosewood Elementary School, Freedom Baptist Schools in Hudsonville and the Jamestown Quick Stop.

During the Lowell High School break-in, suspects broke a window to gain entry early Tuesday but apparently fled when an alarm sounded, said Kent County sheriff's Lt. Roger Parent. A resident reported a suspicious vehicle parked on Reese Court, and police found stolen items inside.