A woman accused of entering a classroom and stealing a credit card and cash from the purse of a Burbank elementary school teacher and committing similar crimes elsewhere in Los Angeles County pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 13 felony counts.
Morgan Aissa Woods, 23, is charged with six counts of identity theft and seven counts of second-degree commercial burglary.
The criminal complaint alleges that the crimes occurred between Oct. 7 and Oct. 9.
Woods, who was arrested Monday morning, is accused of walking into an unoccupied classroom and taking a credit card and cash from the purse of a teacher at Bret Harte Elementary at 3200 Jeffries Ave. on Oct. 7 between 2:45 and 3:30 p.m. and then going on a shopping spree at nearby Target stores.
Burbank police Sgt. Claudio Losacco said leads from the public led investigators to believe the same suspect was responsible for another theft at Emerson Elementary at 720 E. Cypress Ave. in Burbank, along with “several other similar type thefts across Los Angeles County.”
A woman who had an outstanding warrant out of Los Angeles for similar crimes was identified and interviewed but not arrested for the school thefts, although she was taken into custody on the outstanding warrant. The investigation then led police to Woods, Losacco said.
Prior to Woods’ arrest, police said the suspect in the school thefts was a person of interest in similar crimes in La Crescenta and El Segundo.
— Wire reports