Local Schools Remain Popular Targets for Criminals

Recent burglary attempts at three Fair Oaks schools highlight the sort of that’s more commonplace than school district and law enforcement officials would prefer.

“Schools are constantly a target of theft and vandalism,” said Trent Allen, senior director of community relations for the . “These three incidents do not seem to be outside the norm of what we see each year.

But three break-ins in the span of four days is a little much for a modest-sized community like Fair Oaks.

On Aug. 17, a silent alarm brought Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies to , where they found a small group of teens hanging out and drinking Mike’s Hard Lemonade. One of the teens, a 16-year-old male, was arrested for allegedly trying to steal a computer from one of the unlocked classrooms.

The Citrus Heights teen was issued a citation and released to his father, said sheriff’s department spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos.

“It is unknown why the doors were open at that time of the night,” he added.

A representative from the school did not return a request for comment before deadline.

One day later, a similar situation unfolded at John Holst Elementary School on Bannister Road. According to a sheriff’s department report, a silent burglary alarm shortly before 1 a.m. brought officers to the campus, where they found Timothy Allen Leggett, 35, wheeling a hand truck with computer towers across the back parking lot. The computers were from a classroom at the school where the alarm was activated.

Leggett was arrested at the scene and arraigned last week in Sacramento Superior Court on felony charges of second-degree burglary and possession of known stolen property. On Aug. 24, the latter charge was dismissed, and Leggett pled no contest to the burglary count. He was scheduled for drug court arraignment Monday, according to online court records.

On Aug. 18, deputies arrested a man and a woman seen leaving the grounds of after receiving a report about an in-progress copper theft.

Deputies found two bicycles and two backpacks near a fence that bordered the school property, stated a release from the sheriff’s department. A cellular phone tower at the location had been broken into.

Steven Jay Dickson, 29, and Denise Elisabeth Anderson, 45, were arrested in a residential neighborhood near the school. Both were appointed public defenders and arraigned last Monday on misdemeanor charges of grand theft, vandalism and possession of burglary tools, online court records showed.

The looting of copper material is something schools are routinely vulnerable to.

“Copper theft is running especially high again this year however and can have very real, and expensive, consequences for schools by damaging electrical systems that operate instructional and HVAC equipment,” Allen explained.

Aside from the sheriff’s department and on-site security measures, local schools rely on alert neighbors and observant members of the community to report crimes on school grounds after hours, the district spokesman added.