More Teens Connected to School Burglary Ring

Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies say two teenagers arrested after recent West Pasco school burglaries are connected to a ring accused of looting tens of thousands of dollars in electronics from local schools.    

According to arrest reports, two 17-year-olds in masks and gloves used a baseball bat to break into a computer room at Calusa Elementary May 26. They took four I-macs and destroyed a security camera on the roof.

The incident was still caught on video. The stolen items as well as items from other theft cases were found in the home of one of the teens. 

On June 28, a month later, the two teens jumped the fence of Calusa Elementary School, an arrest report says. One of them struck a security camera outside a computer room with a bat, causing the camera to break.  Then one of them hit the window and reached inside and unlocked it.

A 17-year-old entered the room but left shortly afterward when the other 17-year-old told him they needed to go. The only loot they took with them from the campus was a camera that one later threw into a lake, according to an arrest report. 

Both 17-year-olds were arrested Friday, June 28. One teen was charged with two counts of burglary.

The other was charged with three counts of burglary. One of his charges was for the May Calusa burglary. Another was for the June burglary.

The third charge stems from a Feb. 19 burglary at Chasco Middle School, in which $6,000 worth of items was taken. He is not the only suspect in that case.  

Deputies have been investigating a ring of people suspected in thefts from West Pasco schools. Several schools were hit between Oct. 15 and March 17.  The burglars took electronic products. Authorities said in March that the total amount of the http://newportrichey.patch.com/groups/schools/p/authorities-investigating-rash-of-school-burglaries stolen goods was $172,000.

The two 17-year-olds are connected to that ring, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Doug Tobin.

With the addition of the two 17-year-olds in the two school burglaries these past two months deputies have now arrested six people in connection to the alleged ring.  

The school thefts remain under investigation.