2 boys turned in by their mothers after police say they caused over $50,000 in damage to school library
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VOLUSIA, Florida — A pair of Florida teens are facing charges for allegedly breaking into an elementary school and leaving a trail of destruction through its media center.
Their mothers turned them in, according to authorities.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday released body-worn camera video of deputies responding to a fire alarm at Friendship Elementary School in Deltona overnight. They arrived to find a glass door had been shattered and the media center had been vandalized.
The video shows tables and bookshelves knocked over, with books, papers and other items scattered across the floor through multiple rooms, and overhead cabinets are opened and emptied. A dark substance appears to be smeared and splattered across the walls, floor, and ceiling, and there appears to be graffiti in multiple places. Even the bathroom appeared vandalized.
In total, the sheriff’s office said there was “at least $50,000 in damage to the media center.”
The sheriff’s office released surveillance images of two boys wearing medical-style masks, and asked the public for assistance identifying them.
In an update Monday morning, the sheriff’s office said both boys were turned in by their mothers.
“After the video posted, we received lots of emails identifying them (thank you all!), as well as contacts from each of the defendants’ mothers,” the sheriff’s office said.
The boys, ages 12 and 13, allegedly confessed to initially breaking in during the day, then returning later in the evening to “look at the damage and cause more,” the sheriff’s office said.
The boys are each charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of trespassing on school grounds, criminal mischief, and theft.