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BELLEVUE, Wash. — A Bellevue man was charged in King County Superior Court with second-degree burglary after prosecutors said he stole two laptops from an elementary school.
The burglary is alleged to have happened on August 24, 2019, in Sunset Elementary School, located in Bellevue.
In charging documents, prosecutors said Elijah Myles Breckel, 46, stole two laptops from a classroom – pawning one and returning another after police confronted him about it months later.
Police said Breckel previously ran an after-school program in a portable classroom at the school but was fired in 2017.
"When (Breckel) was fired, he never turned in the school's keys," according to a probable cause document.
Police said Breckel entered the same classroom in which he worked to steal the laptops.
Officers said they were able to track one of the stolen laptop's serial numbers to a pawnshop located in South Seattle, where records showed Breckel received $160.
Police said they later obtained surveillance images from the pawnshop that showed Breckel making the transaction.
Officers said they later compared the surveillance images to a Department of Licensing picture and social media profiles of Breckel.
"I believe it's the same person and that it was, in fact, Breckel who pawned the stolen laptop," an officer wrote in a probable cause document.
When officers attempted to speak with Breckel, they said they later received a phone call from a woman who claimed to be Breckel's attorney.
According to police, the woman said Breckel would bring a laptop to the station and turn himself in.
On Dec. 12, 2018, police said Breckel turned himself in and gave officers a laptop, a power cord, two keys and four Issaquah School District ID cards.
Police said Breckel was arrested on suspicion of burglary.
"Because of his cooperation, and the fact he had no criminal history, Breckel was released from BPD booking," police said.
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