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4 laptops, 6 ukuleles missing in Hopwood music class burglary
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Posted on Apr 13 2022
The building behind the stage where the music class was burglarized in the Hopwood Middle School campus. (Leigh Gases)
Hopwood Middle School principal Victorino N. Borja is appealing to the public for any information that could help resolve a recent burglary at the school, or at least recover some of the stolen items.
Borja said one of the missing items was a personal ukulele owned by Hopwood music teacher Felix Rabauliman, who is “very upset” and hopes to get it back.
The Department of Public Safety has yet to issue a news release about the burglary as of press time yesterday but, in an interview with Borja, it was learned that the burglary occurred sometime on April 6, Wednesday, at the school’s music room.
He said a Hopwood security guard was doing his rounds in the early morning of Wednesday, April 6, at about 5am, when he discovered that Room 27, the music class behind the stage of the HMS campus in Chalan Piao, had been burglarized.
After an inventory that morning, it was learned that the missing items included four student laptops, six ukuleles, and one acoustic guitar.
Upon inspection of the CCTV footage, it was determined that the burglary happened around midnight, when the security guard was posted elsewhere on campus, and three unidentified male individuals were seen in the recording. It was not immediately learned how the perpetrators gained entry to the classroom.
Borja pointed out that “any theft to schools is theft to students.” He hopes that anyone in the public with information about the stolen goods or the perpetrators will step forward.
This incident was not the first of its kind for HMS. The school’s temporary site in Koblerville was also burglarized in February 2020, but the only missing item was a black cell phone that had been confiscated weeks earlier.
If you or someone you know would like to report a crime, call 911. If you would like to remain anonymous, call the CNMI Crime Stoppers hotline at 234-7272.
