Irvine, Calif. (Jan. 18, 2018) – The Irvine Police Department (IPD) has made an arrest in a string of thefts at local schools that occurred last week. Antwoine Elvine, 42, was arrested Thursday morning at his home in San Bernardino.
On Jan. 11, the Irvine Police Department received a report of a theft at the private school attached to Irvine Baptist Church, 5101 Walnut Ave. The suspect was caught on video surveillance walking into an empty classroom around 3:40 p.m. and stealing a wallet from a teacher’s purse.
On Friday, Jan. 12, IPD issued a press release that included video surveillance of the theft in hopes of identifying the suspect.
Upon seeing the press release, Concordia University contacted IPD after they recognized the suspect in the Irvine Baptist Church video. Concordia personnel reported that a theft had occurred on their campus a short time after the theft at Irvine Baptist Church. In this case, wallets were taken from backpacks and $500 cash was stolen from an office. Concordia also had video of the suspect, including footage of the suspect vehicle and license plate.
In a third case, the University High School library and student store were burglarized the same day as the other schools. The suspect stole items including a safe that contained $518 in cash. The Irvine Unified School District also had video of the theft.
Irvine Police Department detectives were able to identify Elvine and track him to his home in San Bernardino. He was arrested at 9 a.m. Thursday and booked at Orange County Jail.
The investigation in this case is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Jameson Roberts at 949-724-7170 or jroberts@cityofirvine.org.