Former Philadelphia Teacher Pleads Guilty To Stealing Laptops
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A former Philadelphia teacher, along with her ex-husband, have pleaded guilty to stealing dozens of laptop computers from the school she taught at in the Northeast to support her drug habit.
In between sobs, just before she was sentenced, Kathleen Kremis, 35, apologized.
"I'm so sorry for the students, and the district. I loved being a teacher."
Kremis taught at Ethan Allen Elementary School, but in a nine month period ending last summer, she along with her former husband, Thomas Perry, took 45 computers, mostly Apple laptops, and sold them to pawn shops.
"School District tags were obliterated or covered with novelty stickers, and they'd get some small amount of money, $50 to $100 per computer," Assistant District Attorney Terri Domsky said.
Connie Clarke of the Defender Association of Philadelphia represented Kremis.
"She was willing to do whatever was necessary to make the school district whole, and to get herself clean and straightened out, to move on with her life," Clarke said.
Both were sentenced to six to 12 months in custody, but immediately paroled. Kremis will go to an inpatient drug rehab center and Perry will be on house arrest.
Reported by Steve Tawa, KYW Newsradio
