$31,500 Loss Latest in Rash of School Thefts

Just five days after they arrived in the classroom, nine Power Macintosh computers and printers were stolen from Coldwater Canyon Avenue Elementary School late Tuesday night or early Wednesday--a loss valued at $31,500.

There was no sign of forced entry at any of the nine burgled classrooms, said School Police Det. Joe T. Preciado. “There are no suspects at this time,” he said Wednesday.

The loss to the children of the school--most of whom don’t have computers at home--is inestimable, teachers say.

“A person who is desperately sick and depraved would be the only kind of person who would steal from an elementary school,” fumed fourth-grade teacher Lynne Davidson.

The burglary is the second at Coldwater since November, when six computers and printers worth about $17,000 were stolen, said special-education teacher Jim Blanchard.

All the stolen equipment was cabled down in locked classrooms behind locked school gates, said plant manager Koichi Kukita. The equipment is clearly painted and engraved with the school name and identification code.

The Coldwater incident is the latest in a rash of school burglaries in which at least $107,600 in equipment has been stolen, educators estimate.

This week alone, Morningside Elementary had TV sets and VCRs worth $2,000 stolen, and Osceola Street Elementary had more than $4,100 in computer equipment taken. This month, Tulsa Street Elementary School had $6,000 worth of equipment stolen, and San Fernando High School had computers and photographic equipment pilfered from a yearbook classroom.

In February, someone took $30,000 worth of Sylmar Elementary’s computers, printers, audio equipment and walkie-talkies and about $6,000 worth of office computers and printers from Sharp Avenue Elementary School.

From November through the middle of this month, the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center was burglarized on five occasions, costing $11,000 in computers and VCRs.