Public schools in Detroit might be many things, but they are not an eBay clearing house for thieves. It’s too bad 10 people, including a football player for Michigan State University allegedly did not get that memo.
Wayne County (Mich.) prosecutor Kym Worthy, along with the Detroit Public Schools announced MSU tight end Dion Sims, 19, and nine others were busted in a ring set up to steal more than $158,000 in laptop computers from the school and sell them on websites like eBay and Craigslist and to friends. The computers were tracked, using internal devices in seven other states, Canada and even the United Arab Emirates. The heist began in 2009 and about 104 of the machines were stolen.
Robert Bobb, the DPS’ emergency financial manager who has been charged for the past two years with turning around the finances of the school system, which teaches about 138,000 students, as well as weeding out corruption, said he was “floored” by the arrests. “This is about stealing educational opportunities from our kids,” he said. “And we aren’t going to stand for it.”
MSU Athletic Director Mark Hollis said Sims, a sophomore, has been suspended indefinitely and that the university has been aware since February of the pending investigation. He had not played in the team’s first three regular season games.