Two plead guilty to stealing iPads, laptop computers from nine schools, including Del Mar Heights

By City News Service

Two Riverside County men pleaded guilty July 16 to burglary charges stemming from the thefts of iPads and other electronic devices from nine San Diego County schools.

Trevor J. Williams, 21, and Eyon Zimmerman, 19, changed their pleas as trial was to begin.

Williams will be sentenced to seven years in prison on Aug. 16.

Zimmerman will be sentenced to five years behind bars on the same day.

A third defendant, 21-year-old Thomas Earl Burleson, is set for trial on Wednesday.

Williams and Burleson are documented gang members and Zimmerman is a known associate, according to Deputy District Attorney Brendan McHugh.

In court, Williams and Zimmerman admitted the crimes were committed for the benefit of their street gang, McHugh said.

The three were charged with breaking into classrooms at schools in Del Mar Heights, Cardiff, Lakeside and other communities, stealing iPads, laptop computers and other electronics. Authorities said the thefts began last Nov. 18.

Some of the defendants used their cell phones in the area of the schools the nights of the break-ins, according to previous court testimony.

The defendants were arrested Jan. 30 at a Temecula-area Border Patrol checkpoint. The iPads stolen from the Del Mar school earlier that morning or the night before were recovered from the defendants’ car, along with a laptop computer, bolt cutters and a projector, McHugh said.