By David Greisman, dgreisman@tribune.com
April 2, 2012 | 11:34 a.m.
Three burglaries at county schools and two other break-ins at school buildings might be connected, according to the Howard County Police Department.
In the span of one night, laptops were stolen from Stevens Forest Elementary School, a desktop computer was taken from Jeffers Hill Elementary, and a projector, router and laptop bag were stolen from Talbott Springs Elementary, all of which are located in east Columbia.
All three burglaries were done "without force," police said. At Stevens Forest, portable classroom trailers were entered between 5:15 p.m. on March 27 and 8 a.m. on March 28. At Jeffers Hill, a classroom pod was entered at about 2:22 a.m. on March 28. And at Talbott Springs, the burglary at a portable classroom was discovered at 8 a.m. on March 28.
Nothing was reported stolen, meanwhile, during break-ins March 29 at the county school system's Application and Research Lab in the 10900 block of Clarksville Pike inEllicott City and from the Faulkner Ridge School office building in west Columbia.
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Two people were seen entering the lab at 1:17 a.m. by pulling on a door until it opened. And later that morning, at about 1:30, two males were seen entering the Faulkner Ridge building and then running out of the front door.
The cases are under investigation, said department spokesman Ofc. Bryce Buell.