MISSOURI COMPUTERS STOLEN School Thefts Appear To Be Family Operation - Kansas City News Story - KCTV Kansas City:

School Thefts Appear To Be Family Operation
Family Caught On Tape Stealing Materials From 3 Schools

POSTED: 2:09 pm CDT July 11, 2009
UPDATED: 2:31 pm CDT July 11, 2009

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A school thefts in the Hickman Mills School District looks like it could be the work of a four-person family.

On Friday morning officials at Burke Elementary found two computers and other equipment missing. When school security director John McEntee looked at the tape he found that four two people had participated in the break-in. The video shows what appears to be an adult and a child.

The pair broke the handle on a side door to make entry into the building.

In the video, a man peeks around the corner of the elementary at 7:25 p.m. Thursday night, followed in by what looks like a child of 10 or 11, McEntee said.

The pair eventually find some computers in the hall, emptied out of the classroom for summer cleaning, and grab a two garbage cans to load the equipment.

"What a poor example to the children," McEntee said. "They obviously used the young man, who's clearly adolescent or even elementary school age. What an example to them."

Video outside the school shows a woman and small child waiting in the playground, possibly as lookouts.

"It makes you assume perhaps that they were using the children as props to perhaps draw less attention to themselves," McEntee said.

Eventually the video shows the man and his young partner struggling to tote their barrels out of the building. The pair met up with the woman and toddler outside and off to the southwest.

District officials say it's the third break in this month.

The others were at Johnson Elementary and Ingels Elementary.

The two Dell computers stolen at Burke were teachers' computer and represent the biggest loss of the three break-ins. Officials said the loss hurts more than in previous years.

"We are a financially stressed district, and what they're doing, they're hurting the children of this district by taking educational aids," McEntee said.

The district has put up $2,000 of reward money for information called into the tips hotline that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.