A 22-year-old Army veteran is scheduled to appear in court Monday after being charged for two school burglaries.
Kevin Merk is accused of burglarizing Castle High School and Windward Community College.
Honolulu police responded to an alarm call just before 4 a.m. Sunday at Castle High School and found a man wearing a glove near a classroom that had been broken into.
According to the school’s principal Meredith Maeda, it was later discovered that several classrooms had been burglarized that morning. 22-year-old Kevin Merk was arrested on the scene.
"You can see here he comes up here now," said Rick Murray, Safety and Security Manager at Windward Community College
Police believe Merk was the same man seen in surveillance video at Windward Community College at 3:39 a.m. on December 30.
"He was not able to get into this building but this is the building where we able to catch him on the camera," said Murray. "We were able to see the suspect on a couple of occasions but the best photo that we got of him was here and in the library."
He was also seen in the school’s library on the morning of January 20.
Murray says video from other cameras show the same man may have been involved in five break-ins on campus.
"Our IT Department was very good at monitoring a stolen laptop where the suspect had actually changed the user name on the laptop from student to his name," said Murray who added the man always traveled with a backpack. "I’m sure he was seen from time to time but never in a suspicious way — because he fit in so well. He looked like a student."
Police believe after casing the campus the suspect carefully chose his targets.
"We believe that he came in this window," said Murray pointing to crumbled cement. "You see this here from the weight of the weight of his body."
Police say Merk may have been homeless and had served in the U.S. Army until late last year.
Investigators believe he may have been involved in other burglaries in Kaneohe.
Murray says he is grateful a suspect is in custody and for technology.
"We have cameras spread throughout the campus but because of this — we actually decided to put in even more cameras," said Murray. "very clear images, they’re good crime-fighting tools."
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
