Vandal breaks into middle school

STATESVILLE, N.C. -- For the second time in two weeks, vandals broke into Statesville Middle School.

"It is a pain. It's unfortunate," said Dawn Creason with Iredell County Schools. "This situation is a bit different this time. Before it was just mean and malicious. This was a desperate act. It was more theft."

Work crews spent the day repairing doors damaged by the thief, but they didn't find smashed computers and trophies and other destruction that was left by vandals a week ago.

In the first instance, the vandals were smart enough to destroy the surveillance tapes. But the vandal who broke in Tuesday night did not, so police have gotten a good look at him.

"Well, the goal is always to catch them," Creason said. "We got a pretty solid lead on last night's incident, feel pretty confident about that."

School is only two weeks away, but officials say the break-ins have not affected back to school preparations.