A local teenager who sneaked into a Columbus middle school and is accused of stealing three students’ cell phones from a locker room was found and arrested after police “pinged” the missing phones.
Columbus police were notified at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday of a suspicious person outside Central Middle School, 725 Seventh St., said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman.
The theft of the phones from a school locker room was discovered a short time later and was reported to school resource officers, Harris said.
Columbus police and the school resource officers were able to track the phones to an area near Foundation for Youth on Columbus’ east side where they located and arrested Alexis R. Daniels, 19, of 1901 W. Northgate Drive, on a preliminary charge of theft, Harris said.
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Harris said Daniels is about 5-feet tall and barely 100 pounds and could easily pass for a middle-schooler with her appearance. Daniels is a former Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. student, according to school officials.
Daniels entered the building with students before school started Tuesday and waited in a girls’ restroom before going to the school’s basement and stealing the cell phones, said BCSC spokesman Josh Burnett.
A school secretary who saw the girl outside Central called Columbus police and told them the girl was acting strangely, Harris said.
Police obtained video footage of the girl’s presence at the school and were able to “ping” the cell phones to locate the devices, he said.
Columbus police credited the secretary who pretty much set the investigation in motion by notifying authorities about a suspicious person on school property, Harris said. “She trusted her gut,” he said.
The cell phones have been returned to the owners, Burnett said.
Burnett said BCSC regularly trains its students and staff to say something if they see something. He thanked law enforcement and Central’s office staff for their quick efforts.
“While we don’t regularly anticipate a former student coming in with others, we are prepared each day to do everything we can to keep our students and staff safe,” Burnett said. “With each situation that happens on our school grounds or involving our students and staff, we evaluate it as a group and come up with a plan to either reinforce what we’re already doing or see what opportunities can be improved.”
In addition to the preliminary charge of theft, Daniels is also trespassed off all BCSC properties effective Tuesday, Harris said.
Daniels bond was set at $10,500 at the Bartholomew County Jail, but jail officials said she would be released under the county program that allows offenders to be released without having to post bond.
