Eight Laptops Stolen from Texas High School Recovered by Absolute Software

“Devastated.”

One word is all it takes to describe the feelings of a Mesquite High School business teacher when he discovered that his classroom’s laptop cart – containing eight Dell Latitude laptop computers – had been stolen overnight.

Fortunately, the computers had Computrace^®Complete PC Theft Recovery and Secure Asset Tracking™ software installed – and in less than a month, the Mesquite Police Department had recovered all 8 laptops. Two juveniles who cannot be named were arrested and charged with breaking and entering and grand theft.

According to Judy Rollins, Director of Career & Technology at Mesquite Independent School District in Mesquite, TX, the two students allegedly smashed a classroom window, climbed in, and then wheeled the laptop cart out the door with over $11,000 in hardware inside, not including the cost of the laptop cart itself. Although the laptops were locked inside the cart, the cart was not anchored to the wall. The students effectively destroyed the laptop cart in order to get at the Dell hardware inside.

“A similar thing happened over a year ago: several laptops were stolen from an Instructional Technology mobile lab,” recalls Rollins. “So when it came time to purchase 114 new laptops for the Mesquite ISD last summer, I was advised not to purchase any without some sort of tracking and recovery solution in place.”

Rollins conducted an online search and discovered that ComputraceComplete by Absolute Software came highly recommended. Rollins found she could order ComputraceComplete during the Dell Custom Factory Integration process and have it installed on every laptop she purchased.

On March 26, 2006, when the eight-laptop cart was stolen, Ms. Rollins placed a call to the Absolute Theft Recovery Team, relieved to know that she had taken the right precautions.

“That laptop cart represented one-third of the high school’s entire career and technology laptop fleet,” says Rollins. “A theft like that affects students, teachers and learning outcomes.”

The Theft Recovery team flagged the eight computers as stolen, and then waited for ComputraceComplete to contact the company’s monitoring center via the Internet. Three weeks later, two of the laptops silently contacted the Absolute Recovery Team from the same IP address. The Theft Recovery Team logged the precise details and notified Detective John Gilbert of the Mesquite Police Department.

Det. Gilbert sent a subpoena to Comcast, the Internet Service Provider used by the suspects, and obtained all the information he needed to write up a search warrant, which he served the next day, resulting in eight stolen Dell laptops – and two juveniles in custody.

“Your software led me to the first computer, and that was all I needed to get started. You guys at Absolute Software have a good thing going up there,” said Det. Gilbert, following the arrests. “Thank you!”

The Mesquite Independent School District was created in 1901, with approximately 200 students and five teachers. Today, the Mesquite ISD encompasses more than 35,000 students at 43 campuses, including 30 elementary schools, seven middle schools and five high schools. Mesquite ISD encompasses an area of approximately 60 square miles in east Dallas County. In 2005, for the fifth consecutive year, the Mesquite ISD was named a "What Parents Want Award" winner by SchoolMatch. Only sixteen percent of the nation's 15,573 public school districts have been recognized for meeting the needs of families choosing schools.