HOUSTON – Three former Wheatley High School football players are accused of breaking into the school's library and stealing nearly $250,000 worth of laptops the night before they graduated.
Earl Williams, 18, was arrested and appeared before a judge Tuesday. He's charged with felony theft.
The other two suspects, Keith Paul Anthony Collins, 19, and Fabian Parker Williams, 18, have not yet been arrested.
How it happened
Surveillance camera footage shows the teenagers breaking into the high school library through the exit door just before midnight June 1, according to court documents.
Footage shows them piling 172 laptops into four large bags. They then loaded two of the bags into a getaway car and left the scene. The heist took them three minutes, according to court documents.
The break-in triggered an alarm, and police responded to the school minutes later. The teenagers came back 15 minutes after they left, but police chased them away.
Court documents say the trio returned a third time on the morning of June 2, broke into the library again and took off with the remaining laptops.
The 172 stolen computers are worth $223,600, court documents said.
Identifying the players
The school police officer and a Wheatley High School staff member identified the suspects through surveillance camera images, according to court documents.
The Wheatley High School football coach, Cornelius McFarland, “was reluctant to identify the suspects because defendant Collins’ brother is Xavien Howard, who plays for the Miami Dolphins,” according to police.
“McFarland would not answer the questions nor give away phone numbers,” documents said.
The coach could not be reached for comment.