NEW JERSEY COMPUTERS STOLEN http://belleville.patch.com/articles/thief-pawns-school-computers
Thief Pawns Nutley School Computers
Nutley Police arrest Lyndhurst man after a Good Samaritan comes forward with information about pawn brokers fencing stolen computers.
An investigation involving a pawned computer led Nutley police to arrest a Lyndhurst man for the theft of between 12 and 30 school computers, going back as far as 2011.
Nutley Police arrested Michael Ritacco, 28 of Lyndhurst on June 28 in the Nutley Board of Education Offices after Nutley detectives learned he was stealing computers from the school district, according to Police Det. Anthony Montaneri.
Ritacco was employed by the Nutley School District.
Police learned that an unidentified source purchased a white iMac Apple Computer from a pawn broker in Saddle Brook and learned the personal computer was registered to Nutley schools.
Detectives investigated and eventually recovered at least 10 laptops and two Apple desktop computers from several separate pawn brokers and found that more than 10 others had been sold already.
Montaneri said detectives believe that there could be 30 or more missing and are working with the Board of Education Information and Technology Division to identify and research records from Ritacco, who had been employed by the school district since September 2011.
The investigation led Kearny Police to launch their own investigation into a pawn broker within that town who may have been altering serial numbers to hide the police from finding fenced stolen items, including computers, Montaneri said.
Ritacco was charged with 10 counts of theft of moveable property and could be facing additional charges. The computers are valued at more than $1,000 each and the total loss to the town and school district could surpass $30,000, according to Montaneri.
Mayor Alphonse Petracco, who is director of the police department, said, “Ritacco’s actions affect the entire community, from the people he worked with to the taxpayers that are left picking up the tab.”
Police Chief John Holland commended the conscientious Good Samaritan that notified police after learning the computer was already registered,“That enabled the detectives to effectuate an arrest."
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