At a press conference held in the media room of Montclair Elementary School, Sheriff David Morgan talked about the recent arrests of nine individual–seven under the age of 18 and Escambia County middle school students–for the burglaries of Montclair and Molino Park schools.
Investigators are seeking two individuals believed to be involved in the Monclair burglary that are known to frequent Oakwood Terrace area–known only by the street names “Boo Man” and “AJ.” Anyone with any information about their identities or their whereabouts is asked to call Gulf Coast Crimestoppers – 433-7867.
Those arrested in the Molino Park crime are Rodriques Young (19), Tatanya Blackmon (18), Tracy Lett (14), Jacob Lett (11) and Dashawn Brown (13).
The Molino Park Elementary School burglary happened around Aug.9-10. Though the property stolen originally was thought to be $10,000 worth of laptops, ipads and other equipment, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said at the press conference that an inventory had upped the loss to $60,000. Sheriff Morgan said most of it had been destroyed by the theives to avoid being caught.
The Montclair burglary happened around July 15-16. The estimated loss was $30,000. Ladarrious Puryear (15), Axtavian Harris (11) and Ceasar Harris (13) have plead guilty to burglary, grand theft and felony criminal mischief. Jamal Mosley (13) entered a plea of not guilty and his trial is set for Sept. 9.
Sheriff Morgan said that the investigators don’t believe those arrested in either crime are members of any gang. He did later point out that none were living with their mother or father. One gave a Motel 6 as his residence.
Superintendent Thomas said that he has begun looking into installing alarm systems, motion detectors and other monitoring systems in the schools.
“When an individual breaks into a school, you are not just stealing from the taxpayers,” said Thomas. “You are stealing from our children.”
Thomas promised to replace the lost equipment as soon as possible.