LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating a break-in earlier this month at Lower Lake High School that resulted in thousands of dollars worth of equipment being stolen.
Much of the equipment has been recovered and one arrest has been made, the agency said.
On Nov. 19, deputies responded to Lower Lake High School regarding a possible burglary of items from school vehicles, said sheriff’s public information officer Lauren Berlinn.
Berlinn said Deputy Chase Reynolds spoke with a school maintenance worker who said he arrived at the school at around 7:30 a.m. and saw the chain locking the gate surrounding the maintenance yard had been cut, five maintenance vehicles were tampered with, and several power tools and fuel were stolen.
The estimated total loss of tools was valued at over $8,000, Berlinn said.
The maintenance worker reviewed surveillance camera footage from the weekend and saw two males enter the maintenance yard at midnight on Nov. 19, siphon gasoline out of the school maintenance vehicles and remove tools from the vehicles. Berlinn said the suspects returned two hours later and stole additional tools from the vehicles.
The surveillance footage caught the suspects leaving the school in a green Honda Civic with distinct features, according to Berlinn’s report.
Deputies searched the Clearlake area and, with the assistance of Clearlake Police Department Officers, located the vehicle in Clearlake, Berlinn said.
Deputies contacted the driver and determined they were on searchable probation out of Lake County. Berlinn said the driver was suspected of being one of the suspects by Deputy Reynolds, as they were wearing similar clothing as seen in the surveillance video.
Per the driver’s probation status, Deputy Reynolds searched the vehicle. Deputy Reynolds located and recovered several of the stolen tools and items used to siphon fuel, Berlinn said.
Deputy Reynolds arrested the driver, identified as Johnny Richard Caldwell, 23, and drove him to his residence in Clearlake to conduct a further probation search, which resulted in the recovery of approximately $8,700 worth of power tools, hand tools, power tool accessories, and school laptops, according to Berlinn.
Berlinn said the items recovered were positively identified as belonging to the school as they were all engraved with unique identifying information. Lower Lake High School officials confirmed the recovered items were those stolen from the school.
This investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information should contact Deputy Reynolds via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Authorities investigate Lower Lake High School burglary
- Lake County News reports
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