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Teacher accused of pawning school laptops

Adam Seider allegedly received a total $260 for the laptops, which were each valued at $1,400.

By Ben Hooper
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SARASOTA, Fla., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida said they arrested a teacher accused of pawning laptop computers belonging to the school district.

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said Adam Seider, 36, an art teacher at Pine View School in Osprey, was arrested Tuesday on allegations of pawning three Hewlett-Packard Elite laptop computers on six different occasions between June and November 2014.

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Seider, who allegedly received a total $260 for the laptops, which were each valued at $1,400, told deputies he purchased the items back after pawning them to avoid detection.

"He was trying not to get detected so when he had money he'd go get them out of pawn and put them back," sheriff's office spokeswoman Wendy Rose told WFTS-TV. "It's certainly something we really haven't seen before."

The laptops, which deputies said are considered the property of the Sarasota County School Board, were returned to Pine View School.

Seider was charged with six counts of providing false ownership information to a pawn broker and six counts of dealing in stolen property. He was ordered held in lieu of $15,000 bond.

Scott Ferguson, spokesman for the Sarasota County School District, said district's human resources department will discuss the teacher's employment status with Pine View's principal.

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"He hasn't been terminated, it's always innocent until proven guilty," Ferguson told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. "It depends on the situation. Someone is put on administrative leave typically, pending judicial action, or we can we reassign the person if its determined they shouldn't remain at their school or department pending the outcome of court proceedings."

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