MIAMI COMPUTERS AT SCHOOLS TARGETD BY THIEVESHerald.com 11/18/2004 Bandits mug 6, grab school laptopsPosted on Thu, Nov. 18, 2004

MIRAMAR HIGH

Bandits mug 6, grab school laptops

By STEVE HARRISON

sharrison@herald.com


Six Miramar High students have been mugged -- four at gunpoint -- for the take-home Apple iBook computers they received as part of an innovative School Board program.

Students at Miramar and three other schools got the laptops this fall as part of a pilot program to test whether a personal laptop for every student would increase motivation and test scores. The computers -- worth more than $1,200 each -- are used by students at school and home.

The most recent theft was Wednesday afternoon on Southwest 68th Avenue at 24th Street near the school -- the day after a parents' meeting in which they were warned not to let students who walk to school bring the Apple laptops.

The robbers follow this routine: A car pulls alongside a student walking home. A man pulls out a gun. He -- or a partner -- takes the computer and speeds off.

That's what happened Tuesday when two men grabbed an iBook from a student on Douglas Road, then drove south into Miami-Dade County. The first robbery was Oct. 25.

Police are looking for three cars: a white four-door from the 1990s, possibly a Ford Taurus; a dark-green sedan; and a red four-door car with tinted windows, possibly a Grand Marquis.

FEW CLUES

''We don't know if it's the same person or different people,'' said Officer Bill Robertson of the Miramar Police Department.

The school district has told Miramar High students who walk to school to leave their computers at home until arrests have been made.

''A lot of people at school aren't worried because they drive or ride the bus,'' said Miramar High junior Amanda Myers.

``But I walk to school, and I think I'm going to do what the principal said and leave it at home, even though I have some classes where I need it.''

Students at Attucks Middle in Hollywood, Broward Estates Elementary in Fort Lauderdale and Monarch High in Coconut Creek also have the iBooks, but no other students have been targeted, school district spokesman Keith Bromery said.

No public school in Miami-Dade County has a similar laptop program, although the district has received grants for programs to provide computers to families.

According to Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Gerald Darling, there have been no recent reports of student muggings.

Broward school district officials are still allowing students at the other three pilot schools to carry their iBooks to and from school.

NO INJURIES

''No one has been hurt,'' Bromery said, ``but we're asking some to not carry their computers to safeguard the kids.''

Robertson said Miramar police will confiscate computers from kids who are walking home if they are exposed. He stressed that any student who is held up should quickly hand over the laptop.

At Miramar High, six computers have been stolen on campus, in addition to the off-campus muggings.

Two Miramar High students were arrested Wednesday after two of the distinctive white laptops were found at a Miami-Dade pawn shop and traced to the students who sold them, Robertson said.

The school system has invested $5 million in the program, with teachers given extensive training over the summer.

Apple is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the robbers