$30,000 in MAP camera equipment stolen from library over break, but later recovered undamaged on roadside

In a second break-in attempt after break, surveillance cameras recorded footage of a person trying to enter the library through the roof hatch.

On Monday, Jan. 3, the first day after winter break, school staff discovered that about 30 cameras along with several microphones, tripods and batteries were missing from the library. 

During first period, Media Arts Program teacher Alex Hemmerich’s sophomores went to the library to retrieve cameras for a mini film project to learn how to use certain features of the camera, such as exposure and sensitivity, but the equipment wasn’t there.  

MAP teacher and technology coordinator Joel Tarbox was one of the first to be notified of the issue. 

“The library technician emailed me and said, ‘Hey, there’s no cameras or tripods here.’” he said. “And so I went over and looked, and she was right.” 

Tarbox proceeded to ask other teachers and contacted school administrators. Later that morning, the office staff received a call from a CalTrans officer: He had found the missing MAP equipment on Highway 9, just outside of downtown Saratoga, Tarbox said. 

The cameras were found neatly placed inside four large duffel bags and the tripods were shrink wrapped and put inside trash bags. Despite the rainy weather over break, the equipment was clean, dry and undamaged. 

According to Tarbox, there were about 30 camera kits and tripods, 15 microphones, 10 boom poles, five portable lighting kits, a digital audio recorder and an assortment of batteries and other small items. Although the stolen equipment was old and not nearly as expensive as other devices like the MacBooks and laptops kept in the library, each camera was $800, each tripod was $110 and each lighting kit was $250 — totalling approximately $30,000. 

“It was a lot of money’s worth of equipment,” Tarbox said. “It is what our boosters have paid for, some things the district has paid for and some things the foundation has helped us with, so I’m very relieved [that we found the equipment] because we’re so dependent on it for second semester projects.” 

Tarbox met with two sheriff deputies and CalTrans officers at the scene and brought the equipment back to the library. Assistant principal Matt Torrens led the process of counting, sorting, photographing and checking the serial numbers of the equipment to confirm that nothing was missing. 

The administration is currently reviewing two weeks’ worth of security footage and working with the sheriff department’s investigation into the break-in. No suspect has been identified.

The library was locked over break and had an alarm system active and security cameras operating, Torrens said. Even so, the burglars somehow managed to enter and exit the library with the equipment without triggering alarms. The administration has contacted the security system company, Sonitrol, to try to figure out how the intruders may have managed to bypass the alarm system.

After this incident, the administration has added additional cameras and locks to the library for strengthened security — just in time for a second break-in attempt during the first weekend after break. The cameras recorded footage of what appears to be a tall man in a white outfit unsuccessfully trying to enter the library by accessing a roof hatch. It may or may not have been the same burglar.

These two recent break-in attempts are only the latest in a string of incidents at schools in the area. Over the spring break of 2020, a group of burglars broke into the school library and stole equipment that was stored in the same area as the recent case’s MAP equipment. The week before Jan. 3, Prospect High was also broken into, Torrens said.

Although the thieves from two years back were caught stealing on camera, Torrens theorizes that the recent break-in could have been done by the same group, citing the similarities between the break-ins. 

In both cases, the thieves “didn’t pull everything off the shelves, and cherry-picked certain things,” he said. “When they were here before, they spent 45 minutes inside. And they may have found a key or something that allowed them access this time.”

While the thieves’ motives for stealing and then dumping the equipment remain a mystery, Torrens thinks that seeing labels and traceable QR code stickers on the equipment may have dissuaded them from keeping the equipment to resell. They avoided expensive but easily trackable technology such as MacBooks entirely.

“Unfortunately, this is the way that our society is now,” Torrens said. “Even in Saratoga, you see that there are thefts. People come here and are finding ways to try to make easy money. So as far as with the school, we’re going to look at ways to increase our security in and around the library.”