Baltimore City Charter School Robbed Of Donations
BALTIMORE (WJZ) - There was a brazen crime at a northeast Baltimore school. Now thousands of dollars in computers and music equipment are gone.
As Gigi Barnett explains, the students had just received a special grant for the stolen items.
Last week, there was the brand new computer lab at Purpose and Potential Christian Arts Academy in northeast Baltimore. Computers, keyboards and speakers filled the room. Thursday, it is a crime scene for city police.
"Detectives right now are looking for leads," said Anthony Guglielmi, Baltimore Police spokesman. "Any people of interest. Anyone who saw or heard anything."
Detectives say sometime on Friday night burglars smashed a classroom window, snuck into the computer lab upstairs, took as much as they could, and left the old computers behind.
"It seemed so selfish," said Ricardo Matthews, student. "They didn't realize the education of the students they affected."
Teacher LaCona Matthews-Smith says thanks to a grant, staff and students at the small private school had just finished setting up the computer lab two weeks ago. And the burglars knew exactly where to find the goods.
"They actually took the time to unhook all of the computers," Matthews-Smith said. "I think it's someone who has been in this building before because the building wasn't ransacked."
"We're looking at the possibility that this could be someone familiar with the school system," Guglielmi said. "The possibility that this could be students."
The school says thieves also hit its music rooms, stealing a couple of amplifiers. All of the equipment cost more than $10,000. For such a small school, that was a hard hit.
"This is all done for a reason," said Jayda Smith, student. "People reap what they sew. So, if you do bad things, you're going to sew bad things."
School officials say the school did not have an alarm system at the time of the burglary.
Police say anyone with information should give them a call. And the school is accepting any donations that could help buy more computers. Click here to go to the school's website for more information.
