LAWRENCE — A thief went to some trouble to break into the cafeteria office at the Parthum School on East Haverhill Street over the weekend, but left empty-handed.
Money from lunch program proceeds normally stored in a desk drawer in the office had been given to the school principal for safekeeping when the cafeteria director, Cathy DeSantis, was unable to go to the bank to deposit the $900 cash, police said.
The money has been accounted for and will be deposited, police said.
In his report of the break, School Resource Officer Jonathan Armano said the electronic key system to the office door was not working. A 6-inch-diameter hole in it was covered with a stainless steel plate held in place by screws.
All of the screws but one had been removed allowing the plate to be spun away from the hole on the remaining screw, which allowed access to the office.
DeSantis told Armano when she arrived at work that she had difficulty opening her desk drawers and showed Armano pry marks on the side of the drawers.
The contents of the drawers had been gone through, but nothing was taken.
Armano was unable to view surveillance video of the area because of inoperable cameras, police said.
No fingerprints could be taken because a custodian had cleaned the area and wiped it down before he arrived, police said.
The break was reported Monday at 8:20 a.m., police said.
