Two suspects forced their way into the band classroom at Mesa Verde High School in Citrus Heights around 11:30 p.m. on August 20, making off with more than $5,000 worth of musical equipment. Citrus Heights Police have now released surveillance images of the pair, hoping someone in the community can put a name to their faces.
According to CBS Sacramento, police describe the first suspect as a white male standing about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing around 185 pounds, with dark hair and arm tattoos. The second suspect is described as a white female roughly 5 feet 5 inches tall and 155 pounds, with red-colored hair. Investigators have not said how the pair entered the classroom or where they went afterward.
San Juan Unified School District spokesperson Raj Rai said Mesa Verde High School was targeted in a burglary that resulted in the theft of band equipment, and that the incident left resources intended to support the school community taken or damaged, per the district's statement. Rai added that district staff work to provide a safe, welcoming environment for students, a line that underscores what the loss of instruments means for a campus already gearing up for its next school year of performances.
A Campus With a History of Break-Ins
This isn't the first time Mesa Verde's arts programs have been hit. Back in September 2011, thieves broke into the school's drama room and made off with roughly $7,000 in electronic and musical performance equipment, including a keyboard, amplifiers, and microphones, according to a report from CBS Sacramento at the time. More recently, the campus logged at least four vandalism incidents in a single year in 2024, including a June break-in where suspects tried to pry open the concession stand doors at the athletic facility, as reported by the Citrus Heights Sentinel.
Those 2024 incidents came less than a year after San Juan Unified School District completed a major stadium and athletics complex overhaul at Mesa Verde in October 2023, an upgrade meant to modernize the Citrus Heights campus. The repeated targeting of school property, even after significant investment in facilities, points to a persistent vulnerability that has dogged the school for more than a decade.
City Crime Is Down, But the School Keeps Getting Hit
The break-in stands out against the broader trend in Citrus Heights, where overall property crime fell 8% in 2025, marking the city's lowest crime levels in two decades, per the Citrus Heights Police Department's 2025 Annual Report presented in April. Citywide numbers from the week of the burglary still show plenty of activity for officers to track: Citrus Heights Police logged 37 theft reports and 153 calls for suspicious circumstances between August 20 and August 26, the week the Mesa Verde break-in occurred, according to the Citrus Heights Sentinel.
Mesa Verde High School, located at 7501 Carriage Drive, serves an enrollment of roughly 750 to 890 students in grades 9 through 12 as part of San Juan Unified School District. The school offers specialized Career and Technical Education pathways, including a Performing Arts program, alongside a Public Safety program that trains students in law enforcement and security fundamentals — an ironic backdrop for a burglary now under criminal investigation on the same grounds.
What Suspects Could Face
Under California Penal Code Sections 459 and 460(b), forced entry into a nonresidential space like a school classroom is classified as second-degree burglary, a “wobbler” offense that can be charged as a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in county jail or as a felony carrying up to three years in state prison, according to FindLaw. No arrests have been announced, and the suspects remain unidentified.
Citrus Heights Police are asking anyone who recognizes the individuals in the surveillance images to contact Sacramento County Crime Stoppers at 916-443-4457 or through www.sacvalleycrimestoppers.com. The department also rolled out a new online crime reporting system on July 27, just weeks before the Mesa Verde burglary, designed to let residents submit tips and evidence for property crimes more quickly, according to a release from the Citrus Heights Police Department.
It remains unclear whether the stolen band equipment was insured or how the district plans to fund replacements ahead of upcoming performances. Also unresolved is whether Mesa Verde will see any enhanced security measures following the latest break-in, a question that echoes the same one raised after the campus's 2011 and 2024 incidents.
