Suspect held in theft of dozens of school laptops

A San Francisco man was arrested in connection with a string of burglaries, including the theft of about 100 laptop computers from a Richmond District school, authorities said Tuesday.

Justin Raab, 23, was transferred from a jail in San Mateo County to San Francisco County Jail to be booked on suspicion of burglary and grand theft, according to San Francisco police. He was already being held on charges for an unrelated matter.

Raab was linked to several computers found July 27 on the street near St. Thomas the Apostle School at 40th Avenue and Balboa Street, police said. Investigators later learned that additional computers were missing from the school.

“One of the laptop carts was pushed off the stairs in order to break into it,” school officials said in an online post. “Approximately 100 laptops were stolen. This is devastating to our school.”

Such equipment has become especially important during the coronavirus pandemic, when many schools are requiring distance learning to keep students and their families safe.

The school posted photographs showing broken windows and a ransacked computer room missing everything but a tangle of black wires.

An alert officer from Southern Station noticed that surveillance camera footage of the suspect in the school burglary matched a mug shot of Raab that had been distributed by sheriff ’s deputies in San Mateo County, police said.

Further investigation, including a review of more surveillance camera footage, allegedly linked Raab to four other San Francisco burglaries of computers and cash in July. Targets in those burglaries included two schools, one restaurant and a retail store, police said.

On Tuesday, Raab pleaded not guilty in Superior Court on nine felony counts and was ordered to return on September 15.

Raab was being held Tuesday in lieu of $50,000 bail, the San Francisco Sheriff ’s Department said.