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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

3 More Valley Schools Burglarized; 7 In 4 Weeks

Three more Spokane Valley schools were burglarized over Memorial Day weekend, bringing the total to seven in the past four weeks.

Power tools and school supplies were taken from two of the schools. The burglars damaged windows, doors, a gate and a fence. Damage estimates were not available.

Deputies recovered fingerprints at two of the schools, said David Reagan, sheriff’s spokesman.

Pratt Elementary, 6903 E. Fourth, which was the first to be broken into during the current string, was hit again. Burglars broke a window near the school’s southwest corner to unlatch it and entered Room 107 over the weekend, Reagan said.

Inside, the burglars pried open a vending machine that sold notebooks and pencils, and stole the supplies. Coins may also have been taken from the machine, Reagan said.

Burglars also smashed their way into Spokane Valley High School, 8920 E. Valleyway, Friday night or Saturday morning.

A school maintenance worker discovered a broken window in the woodshop about 11 a.m. Saturday. Deputies said the burglars climbed into the alternative high school through the window.

Several doors inside the school were pried open, locks on drawers were broken, and closets opened, Reagan said. The burglars also forced open a vending machine and tried to get into another.

Deputies say burglars took two routers, a palm sander, a saber saw, an electric hand drill, a circular saw, a grinder, and a cordless drill and battery pack set. Reagan estimated the value of the tools at $600 to $700.

Burglars also tried to break into the Joy Bell Christian School, 4616 E. Fourth, early Monday but were scared off.

The suspects broke an office window on the school’s south side but did not get into the building. They also cut a lock off a gate and damaged fencing around the school.

Tools stolen in church burglary

Burglars smashed a rear classroom window at Veradale United Church of Christ last week and stole $2,500 worth of tools inside the building after riffling through several rooms.

Tools stored in a hallway by a contractor working on the church at 611 N. Progress were stolen during the burglary late last Thursday or early Friday. The church’s pastor did not immediately notice any of the church’s property missing, although the burglars opened several cabinets and drawers, Reagan said.

Burglars also broke a window to get inside an office, he said.

The tools stolen from a Hoffman Contractors box were three screw guns, two cordless drills, a nail gun, a roto hammer, and a set of roto hammer bits.

Boy beaten, robbed

An Evergreen Junior High student on his way to school last week was beaten and robbed of a basketball jersey he was wearing.

Two teenage boys confronted the victim near 12th Avenue and Adams about 7:50 a.m. last Thursday. They punched the 15-year-old boy in the face and head and forced him to the ground, Reagan said.

They then took a Washington Bullets basketball jersey off of the boy and fled in a brown, 1970s model Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by a third suspect.

The boy described his attackers as white and 16 or 17 years old. One was 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds. He had short hair, freckles, and wore black baggy pants, a white T-shirt and Mariners baseball hat. The other had blond, curly bowl-cut hair. He was 6-foot-2, 160 pounds, and wore white baggy pants, a black T-shirt, and a gold chain around neck.

The basketball jersey taken had the number 2 emblazoned on the front and back. The name “Webber,” for Bullets star Chris Webber, also was printed on the back.

, DataTimes