Police: Boy caught breaking into school

Santa Fe police have arrested a 12-year old boy on suspicion of breaking into Ramirez Thomas Elementary School.

Police arrested the boy just before midnight Friday on felony charges of breaking and entering and damage to property of more than $1,000, according to a report released Monday. They also charged the boy with three misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest.

The report says police released the boy to his parents after taking him to the police station and referring the case to a juvenile probation officer with the state Children, Youth and Families Department.

Gabe Romero, director of security for Santa Fe Public Schools, said the suspect entered the building through a back door, triggering an alarm. A guard from a contract security agency responded to the alarm and found the suspect, wearing a black hoodie, in the secretary’s office at the front of the school “going through some papers,” Romero said.

Police officers responded to a call from the guard within minutes, but the suspect had already escaped through a back door, Romero said. The boy rode away on a bicycle but ditched it, the police report says. One officer chased the boy on foot, eventually tackling him, according to the report.

Paramedics said the boy was not injured in the incident. But the police report said the boy had prior injuries, including scrapes on his arm and leg and pain in his jaw. The boy told police the injuries came from a motorcycle accident the previous day, the report states.

At the police station, the boy’s parents allowed officers to photograph the injuries and interview him.

Henry Varela, spokesman with the New Mexico CYFD, said he could not comment on specific cases involving youth. But he said that generally, when a juvenile is charged with a serious crime, the agency conducts a preliminary inquiry to gather information about the allegation and the child’s history. A juvenile probation officer uses that information to make recommendations regarding the child to guide the ultimate decision of a children’s court judge, according to Varela.

There’s no evidence the boy took any items from the school, according to Romero and the police report. An officer said in the report that the door frame had been broken from being pulled from the outside. Romero could not estimate the cost of the damages.