A man and woman were caught after two months of targeting air conditioning units at nine Riverside County schools to strip them for parts, police said Wednesday.
The investigation began when staff at John W. North High School in Riverside reported that multiple HVAC systems on campus had been damaged and stripped of materials on March 2, according to the Riverside Police Department.
“During the investigation, officers obtained video evidence capturing the suspects and their vehicle,” police said. “Using license plate recognition technology, officers were also able to identify the suspect vehicle’s license plate.”
Investigators also discovered that nine separate schools within the Riverside Unified School District had been victimized in similar incidents over the two months. The total estimated damage to HVAC systems across the nine schools exceeded $130,000…