MASSACHUSETTS COMPUTERS STOLEN Students among group charged with laptop burglary at SHS - Salem, MA - Salem Gazette:

Students among group charged with laptop burglary at SHS
By Lisa Guerriero/salem@cnc.com
Wed Mar 04, 2009, 11:37 AM EST

Salem - Police arrested two students and two other local residents Monday, March 2 and charged them with breaking into Salem High School and stealing computers.

Following an investigation, detectives and officers went to homes of the suspects between roughly 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. They arrested four individuals for their alleged involvement in a recent burglary at Salem High School.

Christopher Donald Decker, 18, Stephen M. Jenkins, 18, Anil W. Nevin, 22, and Matthew Pierce Ryan, 20, are all accused of perpetrating the thefts. (All are Salem residents except Ryan, whose address is listed in Hamilton.)

On the morning of Friday, Feb. 12, staff at Salem High called police to report someone had broken in overnight. Reported stolen were 25 white-colored Apple laptop computers, valued at about $1,000 each. School staff told police several events had been held at SHS the night before.

Police determined then that the thieves most likely hid inside the school, stole laptops and then exited the building by door 10, the loading dock area.

Detectives now believe Jenkins and Decker, who are Salem High students, went into the school while Ryan and Neven waited outside in Stone’s car.

As of press time, police had recovered 14 of the 25 computers, including four that were at some of the suspects’ homes. The serial numbers were mostly scratched off, as were the etchings that marked the laptops as property of SHS, which constitutes property damage. Detectives are following leads to track down the remainingstolen goods. (If residents spot a white Apple laptop with similar scrape marks, they are asked to contact Salem detectives at 978-745-9700.)

Stephen M. Jenkins, 18, of 5 Pond St. in Salem; Anil W. Nevin, 22, of 77 Summer St. in Salem; Matthew Pierce Ryan, 20, of 242 Asbury St. in Hamilton; and Christopher Donald Decker, 18, of 25 Briggs St. in Salem were all arrested. They were each charged with breaking and entering in the night with intent to commit a felony; receivingstolen property over $250; and larceny of property over $250.

In addition, Decker was charged with malicious destruction of property over $250 and Jenkins was charged with wanton destruction of property over $100.

The group was brought to the police station and bailed out later that day.

The four defendants were arraigned on Tuesday and were all held on $1,000 personal surety, which allows them to be released without bail provided they appear for their next court date on April 29. District Court Judge Robert Cornetta also issued them a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and barred them from being within 250 of any school in Salem — including SHS, where two of them were students.

Police Lt. Conrad Prosniewski credited the arrest with “good old-fashioned police work,” saying that police were able to develop on a single lead until they had the evidence they needed.

“Sometimes a little information turns into a little more,” he said. “Sometimes you get on the right track with the right people, and things fall into order.”

The investigation was conducted by Det. Sgt. Stephen Bona, Det. Sgt. James Page, Lt. Tom Griffin and detectives Thomas Brennan, John Doyle, J. Dennis Gaudet and Peter Baglioni, with the aid of officer Kevin Gillan.