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Published Thursday, November 19, 2009 in Local

Artist’s renderings of the school thefts suspect.

Special

Artist’s renderings of the school thefts suspect.

Schools continue search for thief

By Elizabeth Melville

The Newnan Times-Herald

Authorities continue their hunt for the suspect believed responsible for several thefts that occurred at six Coweta County schools last week.

The thefts occurred Nov. 11-13 at Canongate Elementary, White Oak Elementary School, Arnall Middle School, Welch Elementary, Newnan Crossing Elementary and Arnco-Sargent Elementary School, according to Major James Yarbrough of the Coweta County Sheriff's Office. Four of the thefts were in the county and two were in the city of Newnan and are now under investigation by the Newnan Police Department.

Investigators now believe that it was a woman who entered the elementary and middle schools after school hours and rummaged through classrooms and personal belongings looking for cash. Witnesses describe the suspect as a woman in her early 20s and about 5 feet 6 inches tall. She appeared to weigh between 130 and 140 pounds. She is described as having shoulder-length wavy, brown hair, according to Yarbrough.

Marla Lawson, the forensic artist for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, met with witnesses this week to produce a rendering of the alleged perpetrator. Views with the woman's hair free and with it pulled back are being disseminated in hopes of identifying the culprit.

Coweta County School System Superintendent Blake Bass has talked to the principals and sent an e-mail to all school employees advising them to be careful with their personal property.

Anyone with information about the identity of the suspect can call Inv. Tonya Kidner or Major Yarbrough at 770-253-1502. Information can also be passed along to the city via the Newnan Police Department tip line, 770-254-2350, or main number, 770-254-2355.

Comment On This Story

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Stealing from teachers!

11/23/2009

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Seems like there is more than one person involved: didn't some of the crimes happen 'simultaneously?' I wish there was more news coverage of these crimes and more follow-up stories.
All visitors to our schools are to have I-D badges: why wasn't this noticed?
How safe can the schools be, if this has happened?

Posted by Make our schools more secure at 5:51 AM

cameras - good idea

11/20/2009

Link To This Comment

There are obviously breaches of security around our schools.
This week sneak thieves - who knows what the future holds.
We are changing from a rural community with rural schools to a community that is now no stranger to crimes of drugs and violence in the schools.
Cameras inside the schools or in the parking lots would be a means of identifying unknowns.

Posted by Sissy at 6:52 PM

eye for an eye

11/20/2009

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I think if this person is caught, he/she (not totally convinced), should have their hand cut off. Maybe it's a catch 22 but I think we should adopt more of a eye for an eye approach when it comes to these kind of things. The reason I think it's a catch 22 is because if we did adopt such a system, then we might not be as proud to be called an American citizen. We are the greatest country in the world for a reason and that is because of our democratic system, but once that system is altered to something more socialistic like the eye for an eye approach then our global status as the best country in the world might suffer... ohhhh what to do?

Posted by realistic guy at 3:33 AM

Description

11/20/2009

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She is a white female and is fair skinned.

Posted by jenny at 2:41 AM

hello

11/20/2009

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Calling people dumb on a board is cowardess. You had absolutely nothing else to say except to call someone 'dumb'.. REALLY? No, it didn't make last nights newscast that I happened to be watching. And I didn't hang out on the couch to find it as I'm sure you were parked there for hours. How 'bout being nice and saying 'Oh hey, it was on the news and here's the link'.. But NOOOO, the coward chose to call someone 'Dumb'. Wow...

Posted by Flash5 at 2:12 AM

Cameras

11/19/2009

Link To This Comment

Where's the camera's at the middle schools? When I was in school we had cameras on every hall...of course that was a South Fulton school. I guess these schools don't require cameras because nothing happens?

Posted by Stacy at 11:01 PM

TO L.C.

11/19/2009

Link To This Comment

if you look at the news more often you would of seen it on the news!!!!! duh how dumb can you get??

Posted by hello at 10:47 PM

Skin color?

11/19/2009

Link To This Comment

Is she black or is she white? Light skinned or tanned? A major part of the description is missing!

Posted by Nicole at 9:24 PM

this can happen to any office

11/19/2009

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When I worked at a hospital office, someone came in our building, told us a story about her being there for charity and fumbled when telling her story. A couple hours later my co-worker relized her wallet was missing and people were using her cards in Marietta. It can happen in any office that is unlocked. It also happened at the Cartersville MEdical Center when I worked up there.

Posted by Fox at 8:09 PM

Crafty criminals

11/19/2009

Link To This Comment

At Arnco, they mentioned my sis-in-law (a teacher there) by name & said they went to church with her. A thief that lies, too?! Big surprise, right? I agree that someone should've questioned and even challenged her presence there. Apparently she entered the classrooms while teachers were out seeing students onto busses.

Posted by Reader at 6:54 PM

L.C.

11/19/2009

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I'm with you! Someone needs to alert 11alive or one of the other T.V. outlets to get more exposure. I think that it's unexcusable in this day and time to have this happen across so many schools. The subs at some schools are getting treated really badly due to this and the lack of communication to them and the parents has not been taken care of properly. I was told yesterday that there was someone suspicious in the halls during instruction time at Madras and they were called out and the person fled.. Don't know if it's true, but since I'm not hearing anything from the faculty, then I have reason to believe that our children ARE NOT safe.

Posted by Flash5 at 6:18 PM

break in school

11/19/2009

Link To This Comment

How did she get into the school after hours? makes me really wonder how safe are our schools during the day? How come the witness didn't stop and ask her why she was there?

Posted by L.C at 5:26 PM

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