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San Jose: School district reports second large computer theft in two weeks [San Jose Mercury News](San Jose Mercury News (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 14--SAN JOSE -- A second San Jose Unified School District campus has been hit by a significant computer theft in as many weeks, and as in the first instance, there were no signs of a break-in by an intruder, officials and police said. A faculty member who was preparing for the first classes of the week Tuesday at Galarza Elementary -- the school was closed Monday on Veterans Day -- discovered that 19 laptop computers were missing from a storage room, according to a police report and district spokeswoman Traci Cook. A jar was also missing that contained about $30 that students had contributed toward the purchase of a class pet. Cook said the computers were accounted for Friday, which suggests that the theft occurred during the weekend or Monday. She also said there are no surveillance cameras on the grounds at 1610 Bird Ave. Cook deferred further comment to police. Officer Albert Morales, spokesman for the San Jose Police Department, said there were no signs of forced entry in the theft. There was also no evidence of a break-in associated with a theft reported Oct. 28 at River Glen School, which is a mile and a half north off Lincoln Avenue, in which 31 iPads and 31 laptop computers disappeared from a technology room. The computers had been purchased through fundraising by a parent organization with the bilingual immersion school. After news of the River Glen incident surfaced, the school received offers of iPad donations from the Safeway Foundation, and the district said it will pick up the cost of replacing the laptop computers, all of which was valued at about $70,000. Cook said in the case of Galarza, there was no timetable for when the missing equipment will be replaced. No suspects have been identified in either case. Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga. ___ (c)2013 the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |