A varsity football player was suspended and more players are
under scrutiny after about 20 high school gym lockers were
burglarized, students and school staff said.
A varsity football player was suspended and more players are under scrutiny after about 20 high school gym lockers were burglarized, students and school staff said.
Between 1 and 3 p.m. Wednesday, while scores of students were in physical education class or study hall with their bags and clothing stored away in gym lockers, a few members of the Gilroy High School varsity football team busted their locks and rooted through their belongings, administrators said. They took wallets, portable digital music players, keys, cell phones, portable video game systems – even clothing and cleats.
Though the loss has been totaled, the administrator in charge of the school’s investigation was unavailable Friday. Students estimated the stolen goods to be worth more than several thousand dollars.
The burglaries come just five days after the football team capped off their best season in school history with a close loss in the Central Cost Section championship game.
“It lets the community down,” Athletic Director Jack Daley. “It casts a shadow on what they accomplished.”
It also does injustice to football players to be characterized by the actions of “a small number of individuals,” he said. “The vast majority are responsible and take care of things.”
Given the effort coaches have put forth this season, including an after-school tutoring session with an emphasis on academics and citizenship, the coaches are not to blame, Daley said.
“I think it’s just kids who made poor choices,” he said.
While the school is investigating which individuals committed the crimes, administrators did catch one football player with tools that could be used to break into lockers, Principal James Maxwell and students said.
Although administrators suspended the student, Maxwell said he did not think the football player could face arrest because he did not have any stolen property on him and he was not caught in the act of burglarizing a locker. However, carrying the burglary instruments could expose him to arrest for possession of burglary tools, according to the California Penal Code.
The police did not arrest anybody for petty theft in the past two days, according to the arrest log. In addition – though Maxwell said the incident was “absolutely” reported to police – police have no record of the theft.
This is a breach of police policy, Sgt. Chad Gallacinao said.
“If it’s an actual theft, a report should have been taken,” he said. “Right now, there’s nothing in the dispatch events that show we went out there.”
Students could face suspensions and expulsions if administrators find them responsible, Daley said. If an athlete is suspended for three days, they will be prevented from participating in sports for six weeks.
In addition, disciplinary actions could impact whether players would receive team awards Sunday.
The burglary is one of the largest in recent years and is part of a rise in locker-room thefts and burglaries, Maxwell said. The increase is fueled by new techniques – readily available on the Internet – that open combination locks without damaging them.
“Generally you have a couple of people in school who are thieves,” Maxwell said. “This Internet thing has made it spread.”
In the two days since the burglaries, some of the stolen articles were returned, but none of them was seized by high school staff, Maxwell said.
“What happens in these cases is it goes from hands to hands to hands,” he said. Then a student recognized an item as belonging to a friend and says, “You better give that back to so-and-so.”
The burglaries were not targeted at any particular student or group of students, students and administrators said.
Soccer players – several of whom had to play a game Wednesday night with backup cleats because their shoes were stolen – were on edge after the burglary.
“There’s no security” in the locker room, said 17-year-old senior forward Ricardo Enriquez. “To prevent stealing, we put our stuff there. Then it gets taken anyway.”
Administrators have already met to discuss ways to prevent locker-room thefts and burglaries, Maxwell said.
In addition, administrators will continue to investigate the incident next week.
“We’re not done,” Maxwell said. “I believe there will be some other suspensions.”
