GEORGIA COMPUTER THEFTS AT SCHOOLSWelcome to NorthFulton.Com: News covering the North Fulton area including Alpharetta, Roswell, Johns Creek, and Forsyth.By ROSEMARY TAYLOR
Rosemary@northfulton.com

Nearly six months and stolen laptops later, police have made an arrest concerning recent school computer thefts. Nevertheless, since Nov. 4 two more laptops were stolen in break-ins at North Fulton elementary schools.
At 8:30 a.m., Nov. 10, detectives from the Atlanta Police Department and DeKalb County Police served a search warrant on an apartment near Peachford Circle in Dunwoody, arresting a man they believe to be connected to the robberies.
Atlanta police said they can’t yet confirm his identity as he has multiple identification cards with multiple names. Police did say he was a resident alien from Gambia.
DeKalb County Detective James Sampsel, who helped make the arrest, said police found 22 computer laptops in the man’s apartment, along with several other electronic items. Police are in the process of verifying which, if any, of the items may have been stolen from the two county school systems.
But there are already indications some of the computers come from Fulton schools.
"One of the laptops is stamped with Property of Fulton County School System on the casing, and it has been verified by the school systems as indeed one of theirs,” Sampsel said.
Sampsel said they also found three laptop computer carrying bags stamped with Property of Fulton County School System and three similar bags stamped with Property of Clayton County School System in the suspect’s apartment.
The investigation that led to the arrest began with a tip from an Atlanta business, which found its four stolen laptops listed on E-bay. They told Atlanta police about it, which then began working with E-bay’s fraud division on identifying the suspect, and preparing a search warrant, said Atlanta Detective Kim Farner.
"[The suspect] had sold numerous computers on E-bay. We believe that most of them were stolen,” he said.
According to Fulton County School System spokeswoman Susan Hale, the total value of computers stolen from their system since June is around $200,000. But more than money is involved, she said.
"It has affected the kids, parents, taxpayers, and our schools. And if there has indeed been a significant break in the case, we’re anxious to see what the results might bring,” she said.
Meanwhile, another break-in Nov. 4 at River Eves Elementary School in Roswell resulted in the theft of two desktop computers. An attempted break-in Nov. 9 at Manning Oaks Elementary in Alpharetta was not successful.