CALIFORNIA COMPUTERS STOLEN http://www.plumasnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12065:burglars-steal-computers-from-charter-school&catid=69:-headline-news&Itemid=6

Burglars steal computers from charter school

Dan McDonald

Managing Editor

1/17/2014

A middle-of-the-night break-in at Plumas Charter School’s Quincy office left the school without phone and Internet service Thursday, Jan. 9. The thieves also took five computers.

According to the school’s executive director, Taletha Washburn, the building’s alarm was triggered about 2:40 a.m. Thursday.

Before officers arrived, the burglars got away with computer equipment and disrupted the school’s computer server.

Washburn said the people who broke in appeared to have an idea where to go.

“It makes us very sad,” Washburn said. “I’m a very, very trusting person, so something like this makes us feel very violated.”

Washburn said the burglar (or burglars) entered the building at two different places. A window was broken at one of the entry points.

From there, the burglars stole computers — three netbooks and two laptops — and pulled random wires out of the server. They also took the server’s backup hard drive and a memory chip from the phone system.

The perpetrators also raided the refrigerator, stealing items like ketchup and coffee.

The California Highway Patrol responded to the scene and found no one in the building.

The damage in the server room knocked out the school’s Internet, phone, fax and printers for several hours Thursday morning.

“We have such responsive tech people,” Washburn said, adding that technicians had the systems up and running quickly Thursday morning.

However, the stolen phone chip left the school without a phone voicemail system. The voicemail was still down as of Friday night.

Washburn said there was no disruption to Thursday’s classes.