News 4’s Jessica Cunnington reports.
Police arrested two men Saturday in connection with an early morning break-in at a Bronx high school, raising questions about a possible link to a group wanted for a calculator burglary spree.
Patrol officers responded to an alarm at Lehman High School around 2:45 a.m. and found someone had used a rock to break the school's front door. Video surveillance showed three people walking through school hallways and smashing into multiple classrooms.
The cops arrested two of the three suspects, who were allegedly found in possession of toys, a $50 hole puncher and $100 calculator, police said.
A 19-year-old Brooklyn man and 21-year-old from Manhattan face a list of charges including burglary, criminal trespassing and more.
Detectives have already been investigating nine other burglaries in the borough dating back to Feb. 6. A group of presumably high-school aged suspects broke into a series of school and stole a cache of calculators valued at more than $40,000.
Police are said to be working to figure out if the men arrested Saturday are part of the larger burglary pattern responsible for the collocutor thefts.
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Since Feb. 6, the robbery ring has been sneaking into schools in the middle of the night and in most cases running off with the academic tools valued in the thousands. Police believe they first hit NYC Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries, where two suspects scaled a fire escape to sneak in and steal calculators valued at $6,900.
There was almost a two-week break before police tied the suspects to a second robbery. On Feb. 19, a group of four snuck into Bronx Regional High School around 2:30 a.m. This heist brought one of the smallest returns, just $1,465 in calculators, according to police.
The following weekend, police said the teens broke into Morris High School twice by forcing their way through windows on Feb. 25 and 26. There was nothing of value swiped, but the teens allegedly used a chair to break a number of door windows inside the building.
Two subsequent robberies had their biggest scores. In back-to-back nights, police believe the suspects broke into Mott Haven Village High School with a pair making off with roughly $14,000 in calculators the first two nights of March.
On March 5, a trio climbed over a security gate at South Bronx Community Charter High School but could not get into the school after trying to break the lock on a side door.
Hours later, three suspects returned to Morris High School using a brick to smash a cafeteria window and gain access to the school around 4:30 a.m. At least two of the group used a hammer to smash windows throughout several floors of the school. Ultimately, the group left without any calculators but left an estimated $15,000 in damage.
The final robbery on Tuesday earned a pair of suspects $6,000 in calculators from Legacy College Preparatory High School. The duo had to break glass on a third-floor classroom door to get access.
Investigators suspect the team of thieves range in age between 15 and 18.
