NW Ind. district reclaims laptops from students

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. — A northwestern Indiana school district is taking back more than 2,000 laptop computers that it gave to middle and high school students after dozens of the computers have been reported lost or stolen.

East Chicago schools officials told students on Wednesday to return the Apple MacBooks that were distributed to students in January.

The Times of Munster reports that an 18-year-old faces charges that he recently threatened to shoot two students walking home from school unless they gave up their laptops. In another case, one of the computers was sold through Craigslist.

A school district spokeswoman says it is trying to eliminate a safety risk to students by keeping the computers at school for daily use.