Did anyone bother to check the CCTV cameras elsewhere in the area like on Bergen Ave?
No new leads or anything yet?

I'm thinking these were homeless guys. Punk kids don't go around harvesting copper/metal pipe, which have to be carted to metal recycling centers for cash. Too time consuming. Also just about any other burgler would go for electronics - for example taking the actual video monitor as opposed to the wire.

This was the bungled handy work of hungry (hotdog eating), unemployable (metal scavanging), somewhat disturbed (classroom trashing) vagrants.

Super sleuth, Veronica Mars

Tuers Ave. school burglar leaves a mighty big mess

Wednesday, January 06, 2010
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A burglar took time to snack on a hot dog and chug orange juice after breaking into a Jersey City school, where he smashed windows and ripped out copper pipes, police said.

Security video at Primary Prep Elementary School on Tuers Avenue shows a tall masked man breaking into the school through a library window at 11:30 p.m. Monday, Principal Maureen Hoffman said after detectives left the building yesterday morning.

The burglar pried back the metal grate over a window in the school's parking lot before smashing the window and entering the school library, Hoffman said.

When school officials entered the school building yesterday morning they found classrooms ransacked, windows smashed, and plumbing and faucets that had been damaged.

The masked man, who is suspected of having an accomplice, even gathered pots and pans and took them to the front door, but then left everything behind, Hoffman said.

At least one of the thieves worked up an appetite while busting up the school and took a few bites out of a frozen hot dog found in a cafeteria and apparently washed it down with a few sips of orange juice.

Police hope to retrieve DNA evidence from the juice bottle and half-eaten snack.

Teachers also told police an undetermined amount of money had been pilfered from their desks.

Roughly 250 students, pre-school through Grade 8, attend the private school. Anyone with information about the break-in is asked to call the Jersey City police tip line at (201) 547-JAIL.

I wonder if its the same guy who broke into St Marys, well maybe not the same guy cause he got caught & locked up but maybe one of his friends.

This is def done by kids, who would go to break in for copper & then ransack classrooms. The money is in the copper pipes they were trying to get in the first place, why risk it & go destry a classroom.
Out of frustration they would of moved on to get something else if they were older & wiser like the pro thieves.
Also, why eat a frozen hotdog or did it get frozen from being outside?

Cant wait till they catch this guy!

Cops Seeking Vandals Who Trashed NJ School

By STEPHANIE BARISHwpix.com
4:52 PM EST, January 5, 2010

JERSEY CITY (WPIX) - Police are on the hunt for suspects who are accused of trashing a Jersey City school overnight Tuesday.

The vandals reportedly tore sinks and pipes from the wall and ransacked classrooms and the library at Primary Prep Elementary school.

Surveillance tape shows a tall masked man breaking into the school through a library window around 11:30 p.m. Monday.

According to Principal Maureen Hoffman, two masks were found inside the school, meaning a second person may be at large. Police said the suspect or suspects attempted to steal pipes, pots and pans.

In addition, a bag of hot dog buns was reportedly brought to the front of the building in a large trash can, where the vandal or vandals apparently realized there was a locked gate and they couldn't get the stolen loot out, so they left it there.

Detectives are hoping DNA they collected from a half-eaten hot dog and an open bottle of orange juice will help solve the crime, Hoffman said.

School was back in session today, although students that normally meet in the ransacked classrooms, met in the auditorium instead.

The school, located at Tuers Avenue and Mercer Street, has 250 students enrolled from preschool to eighth grade.
Copyright ? 2010, WPIX-TV

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Police search for man who trashed NJ school

Toni Yates
Eyewitness News

JERSEY CITY (WABC) -- The hunt is on for a vandal who trashed a school in New Jersey.

The man tore sinks and pipes from the wall overnight Tuesday and ransacked classrooms and the library. But he left something behind that could help cops find him.

Now, we're getting a look inside at the damage at the Primary Prep Elementary School in Jersey City.

Surveillance video shows the grainy image of the burglar as he snatched the cord from a video monitor. Around 11:30 p.m. Monday, he ripped the security gate from a library to get in and then tore some rooms apart.

"It's heartbreaking," school founder Maureen Hoffmann said. "We put a lot of work into this building"
Teachers cleaned up the desks and shelves that were dumped out, and plumbers will repair several faucets that were severed. The damaged piped flooding two rooms. The burglar tried, but failed, to rip out valuable copper plumbing. Out of frustration, maybe, he trashed the children's dance studio and art room.

"It's hard to believe someone would do this," parent Anne Marusic said. "All we can do is control how we respond. The school did a good job."

But with so much damage to repair, even the kids wanted to help in their own way.

"Some wanted to play detective to see where (the suspect) may have left fingerprints," teacher Jason Hoffman said.

Police dusted for fingerprints, including all the loot the burglar left behind because he could not get it over the security gates outside. He also left two ski masks and a half eaten frozen hotdog, which may give police his DNA.

Classes were in session Tuesday, as the school did not allow the culprit to keep its kids from learning.

"They're the best kids in the world," Hoffmann said. "So we will get past this."

(Copyright ?2010 WABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserv