Riverside, Ca- On June 8, 2005, Riverside police detectives, school resource officers, and problem oriented policing officers assigned to the Central Neighborhood Policing Center, responded to information received from We-Tip. The tip contained basic information on the possible whereabouts of some of the Riverside Unified School District’s (RUSD) stolen property taken during nine separate burglaries that occurred at four schools.

Detectives Jim Lopez and Pat Young were able to develop the information, which led to a search of an apartment located across the street from Ramona High School. The search recovered stolen property from Ramona and Arlington High Schools, Sierra Middle School and Gage Middle School. The search also resulted in the recovery of a RUSD master key, which explained the lack of evidence of forced entry. Six other residences, located both within the Riverside city limits and adjacent jurisdictions, were searched and resulted in the recovery of more stolen property. The estimated cost of the recovered stolen property far exceeds the initial $15,000 mentioned in the May 28th Press Enterprise newspaper article.

Seven present and former students of RUSD were involved in this series of burglaries. Their ages range from 15 to 17 years old. Most of the juveniles were arrested, interviewed and released to their parents pending a Juvenile Court hearing. The juveniles are going to be charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and possession of stolen property.

Detectives are still looking for some of the stolen property and are asking the public to assist in returning any property received from the juveniles involved in this series. Anybody that has suspected RUSD stolen property can contact RPD Detective Jim Lopez at (951) 320-8009.