CALIFORNIA COMPUTERS STOLEN Man arrested in theft of school computers - Inside Bay Area:

Man arrested in theft of school computers
By Ben Aguirre Jr.
The Argus
Posted: 03/02/2009 03:46:35 PM PST
Updated: 03/02/2009 09:54:28 PM PST

FREMONT — A pickup truck stuck between a fence and a building at Irvington High School early Monday led to the arrest of an intoxicated man suspected of stealing two computers from classrooms earlier in the day, police said.

Authorities arrested 22-year-old Corey Minhas, of Fremont, on suspicion of burglary after they found in his vehicle a crowbar with blue paint chips — the same color as the damaged door frames to the two victimized classrooms — and at his house two computers belonging to the school, Sgt. Chris Mazzone said.

Minhas initially told police that he found the computers several days earlier and said that he got his truck stuck on campus because he was trying to get home. The man also said he had been drinking and had taken Tylenol, the sergeant said.

As officers probed for further information, Minhas decided he wanted to speak to a lawyer, Mazzone said.

Officers were dispatched to the school just after midnight Monday when school janitors alerted them to the suspicious man, whom they also believed was intoxicated, and his vehicle, the sergeant said.

Because the man — who was determined to be a former Irvington High student — was on probation for a previous burglary case, police searched his vehicle and found the burglary tools.

Police then searched the campus and found that two classroom doors had been pried open and that computers had been stolen, Mazzone said.

Officers then went to the man's house and found in his bedroom closet two computers that came from the burglarized classrooms.

The man was being held Monday at the Fremont City Jail. He could be arraigned as early as today.