NORTH STAFFORD, Va. — The bookworm bandits are behind bars facing charges, and employees at Hampton Oaks Elementary School are left to clean up their mess.
Authorities were called to the school at 107 Northampton Boulevard in North Stafford at 1:30 a.m. Sunday after a burglar alarm was triggered.
A Stafford sheriff’s deputy arrived at the school and noticed broken glass on a door. He then entered the building through a side door to investigate.
Once inside the deputy heard footsteps and voices and then exited the building. He called for backup and then reentered the school building once it arrived, said Stafford sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy.
With both deputies now inside the school building, the two confronted two males wearing hooded sweatshirts and masks. Both males were ordered to lie on the floor and were then arrested, said Kennedy.
It turns out the bookworm bandits entered the school through the roof, and once inside began vandalizing rooms inside the school – including the library where every single book in the collection was removed and tossed about, said Kennedy.
Ceramic globes, a wooden table, chair, a TV, stereo, and computer monitors were also trashed.
Kennedy said the bandits initially broke into the school and removed two fire extinguishers, went outside and sprayed the contents of the extinguishers on the school walls. Afterward, the two decided to go back into the school and continue vandalizing the building, said Kennedy.
Jarred Kee, 19, of Mountain View Court in Stafford is charged with breaking and entering, felony vandalism of school property, unlawful entry, 15 counts of misdemeanor vandalism, underage possession of alcohol, marijuana possession, drunk in public, trespassing, smoking in a school building, and contributing the delinquency of a minor, said Kennedy.
His accomplice, a 17-year-old male from Stafford, also faces charges of breaking and entering and vandalism, said Kennedy.
