SAN CARLOS (BCN) — San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies said they arrested two men suspected of breaking into a San Carlos middle school and taking laptops early this morning.
The San Mateo County Office of Public Safety Communications received a 911 call at 2:04 a.m. from an alarm monitoring company indicating there was a burglary in progress at Tierra Linda Middle School.
Once sheriff’s deputies arrived at the campus, located at 750 Dartmouth Ave., they saw a suspect in the school’s parking lot, deputies said.
Lawrence Nero, 28, of Oakland, allegedly fled on foot after seeing the first deputy. After a brief struggle, Nero was taken into custody with the assistance of a sheriff’s K-9 unit, sheriff’s officials said.
Deputies then located a second suspect hiding on the roof of a nearby house. Willie Gaffney, 36, of San Francisco, allegedly refused to surrender to deputies, prompting them to again use the K-9 unit to take him into custody.
According to sheriff’s officials, a search of Gaffney’s car revealed numerous laptops that had been taken from school.
Both Nero and Gaffney were taken to a hospital for additional treatment, sheriff’s officials said.
After hospital staff cleared Nero, deputies booked him into the Maguire Correctional Facility on suspicion of burglary, conspiracy, resisting arrest and possessing burglary tools, sheriff’s officials said.
Nero has since posted $25,000 bail for his release, deputies said.
Gaffney is still in the hospital and once he is released, he will be booked into the Maguire Correctional Facility as well, sheriff’s officials said.