Sheriff’s Office searching for suspect
Rappahannock sheriff’s deputies are on the hunt for a burglary suspect driving a white Kia Soul after Hearthstone School in Sperryville was broken into over the weekend, according to the school’s director Jane Mullan.
Cash was taken from the Rainbow Market, a nonprofit shop in the school, which Mullan said includes donations for a student service trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, this May.
The Rainbow Market and Hearthstone School signs. (Photo/Ireland Hayes)
“Our store, Rainbow Market, is a nonprofit business to help support the school,” Mullan wrote in an email to Foothills Forum Tuesday. “Our high school students are going on a service trip to Oaxaca, Mexico in May. We plan to work at orphanages … There is a poster board about our trip displayed with the donation container in the front entrance area, so he most likely would have seen why donations were being collected.”
Mullan said the suspect gained entry by breaking a window in the community room on the top level of the school, but did not go downstairs where most of the classrooms are. The suspect spent 30 minutes in the school, and Mullan said staff could tell the community room had been looked through, but no items were missing. No merchandise was missing from the shop either.
The school’s surveillance cameras were able to capture the vehicle and a male suspect, but Mullan said that the license plate was not visible. Mullan said they are not sure if there were more people involved that were not caught on camera.
The Sheriff’s Office was notified when the break in was discovered on Saturday, and Mullan said deputies have been investigating the matter. Sheriff Connie Compton did not return multiple requests for comment.
“Too bad we have to live under this fear in beautiful Rappahannock County,” Mullan said.
Love sign at Hearthstone School. (Photo/Ireland Hayes)
