School police have arrested an elderly man after they caught him inside of Reginald F. Lewis High School with burglary tools and items belonging to the principal.
The charging documents for Wardell Richardson, 71, describe how school police found him while responding to a burglary alarm at the school on August 23. The documents state that the high school had been experiencing a rash of breaking and entering incidents.
Officers who were sent to investigate the alarm encountered the building custodian who informed them that the office for the school’s basketball coach had been damaged. The plexiglass for that office had been “broken out,” according to court records.
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The officers searched the building for potential suspects. During their search, they came across a locked office door. Court records state that once they were able to access the office, they found signs that someone had been inside of it.
They found a pair of shoes, work gloves, a baseball cap, and a bookbag on the floor of the room when they entered it. Soon after, they found Richardson hiding in behind the door, according to the charging documents.
Police searched Richardson and put handcuffs on him. Then, the started looking for evidence. The charging documents describe how one of the officers found a bag behind a desk that contained two screwdrivers, two black i-Phones, a bag of candy, wireless earbuds, plyers, a stolen iPad Pro and Stylus, 17 mini Old Spice Deodorants and Old Spice aerosol sprays.
The school’s principal told officers that those items belonged to her.
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Afterward, police took Richardson to the Baltimore Booking & Intake Facility.
Richardson has been charged with second-degree burglary of a storehouse belonging to Baltimore City Public Schools, fourth-degree burglary of a storehouse belonging to BCPS, committing fourth-degree burglary with burglar’s tools, trespassing on school property, and stealing items valued between $1,500 and $25,000. Additionally, police have charged Richardson with destroying and defacing property of BCPS.
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Baltimore’s various educational institutions have been targeted by many opportunists.
For example, school police arrested a man after they found him on the roof of Curtis Bay Elementary School on July 24. Police alleged in charging documents that Raymond Causion, 20, was one of six people who were captured on camera pillaging the school at night.
Officers searched the building for the suspects and found Raymond Causion, 20, hiding on the roof, according to court records.
The charging documents allege that Causion had a backpack that contained burglary tools and food from the cafeteria. Its contents consisted of four screwdrivers, four bread cakes, multiple frozen pizzas, Dubble Bubble gum, two 12-ounce bottles of Pepsi, and a 20-ounce bottle of red Gatorade.
Causion told officers that he took food from the school cafeteria because he was homeless, according to the documents.
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