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CCSD officer told police he stole items to sell, report says

A Clark County School District police officer told investigators he stole two cameras from classrooms at a west Las Vegas Valley school in order to sell them “due to financial hardship,” arrest documents show.

Officers were called to the West Career and Technical Academy school at about 1:30 p.m. Monday after two teachers reported Canon cameras missing from their classrooms, according to the report. One teacher said a Canon camera was replaced with an older model, and that four other cameras were missing. Another said plastic bins that store cameras were moved, and a camera was missing.

School surveillance cameras showed Clark County School District Police Department Sgt. Robert Griffin, 56, entering the two classrooms on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, according to his arrest report.

Earlier footage showed Griffin entering at least one of the classrooms, and sometimes both, on Oct. 17, Oct. 24 and Nov. 7, the report said.

School police searched Griffin’s patrol car Monday and found multiple barcode stickers, including one from the West Career and Technical Academy. Also in the car were multiple plastic tags, including one for a laptop cart from Lawrence Junior High school, two for MacBook laptops from Del Sol Academy of the Performing Arts, and one from an unknown MacBook Pro laptop, the report said.

Police also found two Canon camera lens covers, shipping receipts, Apple products, an iPhone with a shattered screen, and two bottles of adhesive remover, as well as a bottle of scratch remover, according to Griffin’s arrest report.

One of the teachers who reported the stolen cameras Monday said a MacBook Pro laptop was taken from her room in October. The other teacher said she reported devices, including two Canon cameras, five camera lenses, two MacBook pros and two tablets, missing from her room last school year, according to the arrest report.

Officers also took several items from Giffin’s home while conducting a search warrant, the arrest report said. The items included “digital devices which were consistent with property owned by Clark County School District,” and a barcode sticker from a camera matching one from the West Career and Technical Academy, according to the report.

Griffin told police Wednesday that he stole two cameras from the school over the weekend. He told investigators that when officers asked him to report to the school district’s Police Department’s main station, he stored one camera in a locker at the Las Vegas South Premium Outlets because he “did not want to have it in his car when he arrived.”

Griffin told officers he stole the items in order to sell them “due to financial hardship,” and that he owed a creditor $367 after putting money down on a new home, according to the report.

He also told officers that he did not steal any computers they found and that they were either given to him by school district employees, or he collected them from the trash, according to the report. A Canon camera that was the same model as one taken from the West Career and Technical Academy was found in the outlet mall locker, as well as a MacBook that Griffin said he owned, the report said.

Griffin was released on his own recognizance Friday from the Clark County Detention Center and placed on house arrest, court records show. He faces charges of two counts of first-degree burglary and two counts of grand larceny less than $3,500.

Griffin was suspended without pay pending the resolution of the criminal charges. He’s worked in the district’s police department since 2006, assigned to the operations division. His salary in 2017 was $81,052, according to Transparent Nevada.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.

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