eBay clues lead Alaska troopers to teen in Delta school heist
Originally published Friday, August 1, 2008 at 12:07 a.m.
Updated Friday, August 1, 2008 at 3:32 p.m.
Digg
delicious
Facebook
Mixx
Reddit
Stumble It!
CORRECTION: The Delta-Greely School District had to pay about 80 percent of the cost of the stolen items to settle an insurance claim.
FAIRBANKS — Alaska State Troopers used eBay to track down a 16-year-old suspected of taking more than $100,000 worth of electronics from Delta High School.
The electronics, including 52 laptops, multiple computers and monitors and the school’s surveillance system were reported stolen in late June. Several thousand dollars worth of windows were also vandalized.
Investigators located several items on the popular Internet auction site believed to have been stolen from the school. After purchasing 14 laptops and a projector at an auction, troopers identified the seller as a 16-year-old from Delta Junction.
On Thursday, the Alaska Bureau of Investigation contacted the teen, who led them to the rest of the electronics taken in the burglary, as well as a handgun and paintball gun reported stolen in an unrelated case.
The Delta-Greely School District had to pay about 80 percent of the cost of the stolen items to settle an insurance claim.
“We’re happy about the arrest, but a little concerned about the age of the person involved,” said P J Ford Slack, superintendent of the Delta/Greely School District.
Slack said it’s likely, because of the age of the suspect and the items taken, that the juvenile is a student at the high school.
“Because of the specificity of what they took, it’s hard to believe it was someone who wasn’t familiar with the school,” she said.
Troopers would not say if they were looking into other suspects, but Slack believes there were probably others involved in the burglary.
Troopers are waiting for charges to be filed before releasing any more information about the suspect, spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
Community Discussion
Newsminer.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full user's agreement.
????? How stupid can you be? I'd love to see the ebay listings..
"lot of 14 slighty used, stolen laptops"
A+++++++++++++++++++++++ WOULD READ AGAIN!!!
he certainly was thorough. stole the surveillance equipment too.
he might as well have posted it all on craigslist. haha.
i just hope that they find the REST of those who were involved and make a VERY good example out of them. it's about time something is done about the thefts that have been going on down here.
Hopefully this young person learns his lesson from this; if they give him or her a deserving punishment, maybe, just maybe, he or she can grow up and become a law-abiding citizen...fingers crossed!!!
These kids are out of control.......
I say he spends the same amount of time in jail that they spent investigating the case and he gets 2 years probation.
I agree with you all......
But the hurting part of this is if the parents of this kid, or kids for that matter, laid down any REAL discipline, or tried to head this type of behavior off in the past, THEY probably would be thrown in jail. This doesn't sound like a bunch of adults, better yet some young punks, and very stupid one's at that. But do I expect them to get any real punishment? Not gonna happen.
Hell, let's all talk to a counselor as to why the kid breaks into a school and steals 100K worth of stuff, brings incredible embarrassment upon himself and his family, and for all intents and purposes, will get a chance to "cry," give a thinly-veiled "apology," smirk at the Juvenile Justice system, and do something similar like that again.
Say what you will folks, guess I am TRULY "old school," but someone better call the cops if my children want to cast a cloud of shame over me and mine.
Call me a product of my upbringing....
Raised in a single parent home "back in the day," the phone was very much available while my siblings and I got our butts "served" for any acts of wrongdoing.
And we "got it" on a regular basis.
What's amazing? None of us ever picked up the phone receiver and made that call. Very grateful that I didn't, 'cause every time I "got it," it was well deserved.
Am I surprised at our youth pulling off something like this? Ha!
I'm interested in seeing what happens now.....but excuse me if I look from a distance, WITH my doors locked.
Incredible.
i agree kids need to be responsible for their actions, i remember my last beating i got and it was a while ago, i deserved it, it hurt and i think i had a little bruise, but it got the point across and well it didnt kill me. now you gotta talk to the kids, you cant discipline them and they know it. i say any kid who backtalks or misbehaves gets disciplined, spanking works when done responsively instead of talking and they do it again.
I want these kids to be punished. It was definatly more than one. Something like that you want to share and talk about when your 16. Thats bragging rights to someone close. They should go to juvy, get probation, and pay back damages and whatnot. You got to give them credit for taking the security system, though, that was smart. Ebay, not so much, but the security system was smart.
P.S. Spanking works. I think there needs to be a balance between that and timeouts. Depends on what happened.
Weren't folks in Delta Junction just complaining, to include the office of John Harris, that the Troopers needed to spend more time investigating instead of writing tickets?
Guess people need to have more faith in Alaska's Finest Men and Woman. I'm sure this investigation took time to complete if they were buying things on ebay and developing the evidence they needed.
Great Job Troops. Funny how successful investigations get a little blurp int he paper but the negative stuff gets front page attention.
Delta - you owe your troopers an apology.
akatving- Do you have a link or more information on the complaints from Rep. Harris' office? I am very interested to learn what was said and in what context.
Thank you.
Rumor in town is that the parents disavow any knowledge that the computers were stolen.
It's too bad their friends didn't clue them in that American schools don't normally send $100k worth of computers home with students.
"America, What a country!"
akatving, I'm just glad to hear that Delta is so "back woods" compared to the metropolis of Fairbanks. I'm sure everybody in Fairbanks always says "Thank you Officer, I needed this to get me back on track." with a smile. Or could it be that the people getting tickets around Delta are the same as everywhere else. I'm sure the people screaming through Delta on their way to the "Port of Fairbanks", (oops, I mean Valdez), don't complain when they get a ticket.
For the record, the Troopers do a great job under harsh conditions. Each Trooper has about 2400 square miles of Alaska to protect.
Akatving-
Before you post some crack comment about the people of Delta Junction, maybe you should know what we put up with down here. While solving this crime should be noted, and the Troopers thanked, there are others that they do not solve, even when handed to them.
Our family, for one, had our house broken into, some items stolen, and we confronted who we knew did it. We also called the troopers to report it since we had to file a claim on the items. The dad finally brought the stolen items back, asked if he could bring the kid who did it over to apologize and then that would be the end of it. After the shock of the arrogance of this guy asking to "forgive and forget" when clearly he knew who broke into our house, I called the troopers to relay this information.
To date nothing has happened, no charges filed for theft or breaking and entering. This is not the first such incident in this town, which is why the people of Delta have made the comments that you now are blasting us for. So next time you go off on your soap box about us Delta Junction people, get the facts. You do not live here and do not have a clue to what we put up with.
Whoa -
My point was it would seem this investigation was on going while folks bad mouthed their inability to produce results. And that you don't always know what's going on behind closed doors during an investigation.
To complain about getting a ticket EOD Dave is one thing - to complain that one should solve crimes (specifically the computer case) INSTEAD of writing tickets while really not knowing what your talking about is another.
Gov. Palin recently noted that the State Troopers are no less then 50 funded positions down. Does anyone understand what that means?
It means doing more with less. Direct your displeasure to the Governors office and demand she do what it takes to fill those positions so they can get some help in Delta for your other cases.
This was not a slam on the Fine citizens of Delta Jct. folks. This was simply a "hey - you never know what might really be going on - so give them a chance and your support."
And who says I don't/haven't/won't live in Delta Jct?
Again - your misinformed based on a comment in the paper.
Who says I don't/haven't/won't know what your dealing with in Delta Jct?
I hope Delta Jct. stays "back woods" EOD Dave - that's what makes it great - A small town. Have a great week.
akatving,
Maybe if you look back at what you wrote you might see where people from Delta might not take your comments too kindly.
My apologies.
My intent was that the na-sayers could be more supportive and that things aren't always what they seem. A lot goes on behind the scene. The good guys have to follow the rules while the bad guys just smash and grab. Additionally - it needs to be understood that in cases where you think nothing happened - it might be that the DA or other powers dropped the ball.
I just so happen to know all the Troops in Delta and know that they are giving it 100% with the limited support and resources they have. They are all doing their jobs. They do everything they can on each case. It may not seem that way, but they answer to people who don't always care as much as they do about "your" case.
And while they caught flack for doing their job, wrote tickets, many referenced the school theft. Meanwhile the case is moving forward but they can't tell the public that for a variety of reasons.
I guess to those who thought they were inept I'm saying, "ha ha ha" but not to the supportive law abiding citizen. If the shoe doesn't fit - don't wear it.
My apologies to those fine citizens who may have been offended. To those that think they can do the job better the Governor says she needs 50 empty positions filled. I'm sure she'd appreciate it if we all applied.
For the record - I love Delta Jct and it's troopers who all have a heart of gold and the best of intentions.
Post a comment
Commenting requires registration.