He frolicked in hallways and loitered on Northern California elementary faculty campuses, apparently unafraid of being observed.
When an administrator would query him, the person would say he was on the lookout for a instructor or pupil to throw off the inquisitor. However, authorities allege, he was actually in quest of unattended purses and wallets belonging to unsuspecting workers members.
The Marin County Sheriff’s Workplace alleges Christopher Britton, of Fairfield, burglarized school rooms at a number of faculties in February, making off with bank cards and working up hundreds of {dollars} in unauthorized purchases.
Britton, 34, was arrested Friday morning at a Fairfield residence by a multi-county job drive that included the Vacaville, Lafayette and Danville police departments, Dublin Police Companies and the sheriff’s workplace.
Britton was charged with housebreaking, second-degree housebreaking, and utilizing a bank card and knowledge with out consent, all felonies, and a pair of misdemeanors for acquiring credit score utilizing another person’s identification, in accordance with court docket data.
“His MO was to focus on elementary faculties within the late afternoon on the time college students and workers are on campus, however in conferences or after-school applications,” mentioned Deputy Stephanie Ware, a spokesperson for the Marin County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Ware mentioned three public elementary faculties within the upscale suburb of San Rafael have been burglarized: Lucas Valley, Mary Silveira and Venetia Valley.
From these faculties, 10 lecturers have been bilked out of roughly $7,000 in bank card prices, Ware mentioned.
Authorities should not sure in regards to the whole variety of faculties that Britton might have hit, Ware mentioned, including that investigators suspect there are victims in Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
The primary incident was reported Feb. 12 at Mary Silveira. All three faculties have been hit in February. It’s not clear how authorities related Britton to the burglaries.
Ware described Lucas Valley and Mary Silveira as “fairly open campuses” that lacked gates which may discourage outsiders from wandering onto the premises.
Sheriff’s officers allege that Britton would anticipate assemblies or different actions to sneak into unlocked school rooms the place lecturers left private objects.
He would restrict the pilfering to 1 to 2 playing cards, authorities mentioned, leaving money and different valuables undisturbed to not arouse suspicion.
As soon as away from campus, he would use the playing cards to buy items, authorities allege.
Ware mentioned some victims didn’t notice that they had been ripped off, in some instances for weeks, till they reached for a particular bank card or checked financial institution statements.
“Folks maintain a number of bank cards, so it’s not shocking,” Ware mentioned.
