Burglars steal thousands of dollars worth of items from Fresno non-profit

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Police officers are searching for two men who burglarized a nonprofit school for low-income children in Northeast Fresno last week.

Chief Operations Officer, Amy Moua said, "We really feel violated, the security, the teachers are now afraid, they're afraid for themselves they're afraid for their students."

A startling sight when staff at Stone Soup came to work one-morning last week. Their office and some classrooms had been torn through and burglarized by two men who stole 10 to 15,000 dollars in electronic equipment.

The crime cut deep for some employees and community members who say the sole purpose of Stone Soup when it was built was to keep kids away from gang violence in the area.

"We've done so much for the community and I just think this happens all the time actually, it happens at least on average once a year but never to this magnitude," Moua said.

The nonprofit continues to serve low-income children, only to have their resources stripped away by criminals.

Police officers say the men are white or Hispanic men in their 20s or 30s who had a small white dog with them at the time of the break-in.

They stole things like computers, tv's, laptops, cameras, and tablets. Plus damaged and tagged one of the doors with graffiti.

Now the nonprofit is asking for donations to help replace that equipment so they can piece their classrooms back together for their students.

Councilman Paul Caprioglio said, "It's grown larger and larger and now all of a sudden its like they just took the knees right out from under you -- took your legs right out, but we'll be strong. We'll come back. We're not going to give up. We're fighters."

You can contact the Fresno Police Department or call Crime Stoppers with an anonymous tip if you know who the suspects are or where they could be.