Lumberton Teens Admit Stealing Lap Top Computers From School

It's a crime that went unsolved for four months. But tonight the Lumberton Police Department has charged two teens with stealing thousands of dollars worth of laptop computers from Lumberton Intermediate School. Clay Buchholz and Dustin Dodge graduated from Lumberton High School last year. Both are students at McNeese State University.

Clay Buchholz was a star pitcher on the Lumberton High School baseball team last year. Administrators say Dustin Dodge was a well liked student at the high school.

Norman Reynolds/Lumberton Police Chief:

"They were and are good young men from good families that just did a dumb thing."

Lumberton Police Chief Norman Reynolds says Buchholz and Dodge stole 29 Gateway laptop computers from Lumberton Intermediate School. He says the teens admitted committing the crime when officers arrested them yesterday.

Lumberton Police Detective:

"2,536 dollars by the time you include all the software."

Together the stolen computers are worth more than $70,000.

Gus Hollomon/Lumberton I.S.D. Superintendent:

"Computers are probably the most vital thing that we teach now because we know that's what the future is in education."

Since December school administrators have had to make do with less of them. Investigators say during the Christmas holidays Buchholz and Dodge climbed through a hatch on the school's roof. Officers say they went into an unlocked storage room where teachers kept the laptops and stole them.

Lumberton Police Detective:

"They can get such a small price for them on the street."

Investigators believe the teens sold the computers mostly to students at McNeese State University for 150 to 400 dollars.

Norman Reynolds/Lumberton Police Chief:

"Eventually we began to get word from folks that these two boys were involved in it."

Officers have recovered four of the stolen computers.

Gus Hollomon/Lumberton I.S.D. Superintendent:

"We're excited about the recovery, but it's really a sad situation. They were our students."

Students who police say made a bad decision and whose once bright futures could suffer because of it.

Buchholz and Dodge are free tonight on $1500 bond each. If you have bought a laptop computer at an inexpensive price recently and think it may have been stolen, contact the Lumberton Police Department. By the way, Buchholz plays baseball on a scholarship at McNeese State University. The baseball coach did not know about the arrest. He says he has not decided whether to suspend Buchholz from the team.