An Oxford man police say stole expensive electronic equipment from Clarkston High School while his son competed in a wrestling tournament Feb. 2 was arrested Saturday by Independence Township police.
Todd Lloyd Griffin, 38, was arraigned in 52-2 District Court Tuesday on charges of larceny, with an alternate charge of larceny in a building.
Police first learned of the theft when CHS teacher Doug Slater arrived at school around 7a.m. Monday, Feb. 4 and discovered a cabinet in his classroom had been pried open’six laptop computers, two cameras, and a box containing several hundred dollars in cash were missing from inside.
The thief even unbolted a projector from the ceiling, and used plastic bins from the classroom to carry the ill-gotten goods to his car.
‘He got out of there with a lot of stuff,? said Sgt. Matt Baldes of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Independence Township substation, noting preliminary information supplied by the school put the stolen merchandise at an estimated value of about $15,000. ‘And the fact that he used their own tubs to carry it all out of the school’this guy was very brazen.?
According to Baldes, the man entered the school’s kitchen through an unlocked back door and proceeded into areas of the building otherwise gated off from the gym area, where Clarkston was hosting wrestlers and spectators from ten different schools in the Macomb/Oakland County Duals.
The man shows up numerous times on surveillance video, said Baldes, where he is seen checking doors in different areas of the school; the classroom he finally entered, B213, was unlocked.
The tapes also show the man loading the stolen equipment into a dark-colored, four-door vehicle around 6:20 p.m. while a number of people stream in and out of the building.
Police sent video footage to each of the nine visiting schools, and got a lucky break in the case Friday when Lake Orion High School’s athletic director Bill Reese recognized the man as the father of one of the school’s wrestlers.
An address was provided, but no one answered when police arrived at the Oxford home Friday evening.
The following day, however, a Lake Orion High School official called police in Independence Township to report Griffin was at a wrestling event in the school’s gym.
Deputies arrived and arrested Griffin just as he walked outside to light a cigarette.
During a follow-up investigation, police found an empty storage bin and a Canon camera box in the trunk of Griffin’s car, and other identifiable objects in his home.
Griffin’s wife, who was home when police arrived the second time, told officers she had no knowledge of the merchandise, and told police ‘her husband brings home electronic items all the time.?
The woman also said she thought her husband might be abusing prescription drugs.
According to Independence Township police, Griffin has a prior criminal record.