Stolen Cash Turns Up at Moorpark High; 5 Students Arrested

This week must have seemed too good to be true for students at Moorpark High School. First the school’s academic decathletes returned victorious from their brainy battle for the national title. Then crisp $100 bills started turning up all over campus.

The trophy was won fair and square. The money, however, was stolen.

As much as $4,000 in cash from a Tuesday burglary--all in $100 bills--could be floating around Moorpark’s 1,900-student campus, sheriff’s officials say.

Authorities are asking for the return of the money, after having arrested two Moorpark freshmen on suspicion of burglary Wednesday and three other male students who investigators say were given the stolen bills and passed them out on campus.

“We want to encourage anyone who has any information or money that they can turn it into the school or to the police station and not face any charges at this time,” Sheriff’s Deputy Julie Smith said. “If we get to them before they turn the money in, then we will press charges.”

It appears the suspects were foiled by their generosity, authorities said. Had a tipster not seen pictures of Ben Franklin floating around campus, investigators may have never homed in on Moorpark High.

Police suspect that the two freshmen broke into five homes near the high school over the last month. The 15-year-old students appear to have left campus on foot and burglarized the homes during their 40-minute lunch break, authorities said.

The largest haul was the burglary Tuesday of a home in the 11700 block of Alderbrook Street, where $10,200 in cash and $18,000 in jewelry were taken, authorities said.

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During interviews with the three students who were seen handing out the bills, investigators learned that two other students were responsible for the Alderbrook Street burglary.

One of the freshmen admitted to that heist, police said. At his home, they recovered $4,000 in cash and $2,000 in property, including paint ball guns and computer games, that appeared to have been purchased with the stolen money.

Police also found jewelry at the boy’s home, which they suspect came from the Alderbrook home, and property that appeared to have been taken from three of the other burglarized homes.

The student was arrested two weeks ago on suspicion of 15 other home burglaries in Thousand Oaks. After his arrest in Moorpark on Wednesday, he was taken to juvenile hall.

His alleged accomplice in the Alderbrook burglary was cited on suspicion of residential burglary and released to his parents. The other three students, ages 15 to 17, were cited for possession of stolen property and also released, pending court appearances.

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Sheriff’s officials, who would not identify the juveniles, continue to investigate the case and are urging the return of the stolen money. On Friday, $300 in cash turned up at the police station.

Anything bought with the stolen money must also be returned, Smith said.

Moorpark High School administrators were tight-lipped about the suspects. Assistant Principal Dave Baldwin refused to comment on the students’ arrests and suggested that anyone who had received potentially stolen money turn it into police, not the school.

However, Moorpark Unified Assistant Supt. Frank DePasquale took pride in the possibility that the call that alerted authorities may have come from a student using a tip hotline that has been promoted heavily in Ventura County schools.

DePasquale said Moorpark High has an “excellent” relationship with the Sheriff’s Department and promised that “if our students have stolen money, we’ll recover it. . . . We need funding for our schools, but not that way.”