ATLANTA FOLLOW UP STORY ON THEFT OF COMPUTERS AT SCHOOLSAP Wire | 10/22/2004 | School burglaries may be work of computer theft ringPosted on Fri, Oct. 22, 2004

School burglaries may be work of computer theft ring

Associated Press


ATLANTA - A computer theft ring may be targeting schools in the Atlanta area, Fulton County officials said.

Since June, 112 laptop and desktop computers, worth more than $150,000, have been stolen from 30 schools, said Robert Lynch, the Fulton County school system's Roswell-area superintendent.

The latest burglaries took place early Thursday at Elkins Pointe Middle School and nearby Hembree Springs Elementary School in Roswell, Lynch said. The thieves entered through classroom windows. They pried open locked closets and desks to get to the teachers' laptops.

Eleven laptops were taken from Elkins Pointe and six computers were stolen from Hembree Springs.

But Fulton County schools are not the only ones that have been hit by thieves.

Gwinnett County schools spokeswoman Berney Kirkland said five schools there have been burglarized since the beginning of this school year. Twenty-eight laptops and a DVD player have been stolen, she said.

In Cobb County, $14,000 worth of computers have been taken, mainly in the Smyrna area, school district spokesman Jay Dillon said.

The burglars' knowledge of school security systems appears to be sophisticated, Lynch said. In the latest incidents, the burglars successfully sidestepped interior corridor motion detection alarms, indicating a knowledge of the security systems, he said.
Similar knowledge has been apparent in other break-ins.

When thieves broke into the front office of Haynes Bridge Middle School in Alpharetta at the beginning of the school year, they broke through the only window not wired for security and stole a computer, said Principal Deborah Reeves.

Fulton County school officials said they are taking extra security measures and watching auction Web site e-Bay and other possible outlets for the sale of the stolen computers, which have serial numbers on them.