Authorities say that for the past several weeks, a Columbus man has been breaking into New Hope Elementary School’s kindgergarten-3rd grade building stealing cleaning supplies and then re-selling them around town.
Demetrus Pratt, 40, of 404 Forrest Blvd., was arrested at his home Monday morning, according to Capt. Ryan Rickert with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.
This is what authorities claim Pratt would do: Break into the elementary school through a back door and help himself to items ranging from paper towels to spray bottles of liquid cleaner. It is unknown what the re-sale value of those items is.
Rickert said Pratt broke in several times over Labor Day weekend.
Pratt is a former employee with a cleaning company contracted by New Hope Elementary. It was only after he stopped working for the company that he began breaking into the elementary school, according to Rickert. He sold the items to car washing businesses and other places that would take them, according to authorities.
According to New Hope High School principal Matt Smith, Pratt only worked for the cleaning company that contracts with New Hope schools for two days. The LCSO report said Pratt had broken into the high school, but Smith said the break-ins had only happened at the elementary building where Pratt briefly worked.
“Before they completed his background check, he had already quit, but still had access to the building,” Smith said.
Smith said they had video footage of Pratt coming into the building around 7 a.m. on Saturdays, and occasionally coming in around midnight, too. The thefts went on for a while before the tapes were reviewed and it got to the point where Pratt was “robbing them blind,” Smith said.
Pratt has been charged with burglary of a commercial building. His bond has not been set.
Dispatch reporter Andrew Hazzard contributed to this article.
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