Students were disheveled after returning to the locker room to find that someone had gone through and stolen their belongings.
The Carlmont girls’ dance and PE locker room were broken into on Oct. 28 and items such as phones, AirPods, and a laptop had been reported stolen.
This incident was due to the broken lock on the upstairs girls’ locker room door, as well as the many backpacks that weren’t stored in lockers. As students walked back into the locker room after fourth period to change, they were very surprised by what they found.
“As we went back into the locker room to go change, I noticed everything in my backpack was opened. As I started to go through the mess, I heard other girls in the locker room talking about other stolen things. From what I heard chargers, cash, phones, and a Macbook were stolen,” said Michelle Meskin, a freshman.
What the students didn’t know then was that the lock on the locker room door had not been working for a few days prior to the incident. The administration was aware of this problem, and at the time were doing everything in their power to get the lock fixed as soon as possible.
“Immediately after the lock had been recorded broken, the school contacted a locksmith and in the waiting period, the theft occurred. The students were told of the broken lock, but continued to put their belongings outside their lockers,” said Vice Principal Grant Steunenberg.
However, there was a miscommunication, as the students were unaware of the broken lock and were not warned ahead of time.
No one had told us the lock was broken, so we would have known ahead of time to lock up any excess things we don’t normally lock up.
— Michelle Meskin, a freshman
After the event occurred, many students immediately filed incident reports in the office and the Belmont Police Department was notified.
Although the police report is unavailable to the public, the Belmont Police Department is on the case.
“It is currently being investigated by myself and the school,” said Belmont police officer Eric Gonzales.
Regardless of the miscommunication, students now know that they must keep all of their belongings in their lockers, as you never know what could happen.
“It’s really sad that it happened, especially for freshmen, because it’s their first year and it’s a bad first impression,” said Sophia Gutierrez, a freshman.
In future events, I would highly recommend students to put everything in their lockers, including their backpacks. Although the locker room is normally locked, it is much better to ensure all your belongings are safe than to leave anything outside of it.
— Marguerite Fields, a sophomore
Lewis Fletcher • Sep 15, 2020 at 11:44 pm
Locker room with a broken door lock. Oh man, what an incident. Imagine how many lockers are there and the thief got a lot of time opening them all? I smell an inside job of this problem. Better investigate and review the CCTV ( If they have) because it might help find the lead of the thief.