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Police: Philly teacher charged with stealing laptops also a heroin addict

The Philadelphia teacher accused of stealing 42 laptop computers from her school and selling them to a Kensington pawnshop was keeping more than one secret.

Left: Kathleen Kremis, 35, is accused of stealing 42 laptop computers. Right: Thomas Perry, 37, has also been arrested.
Left: Kathleen Kremis, 35, is accused of stealing 42 laptop computers. Right: Thomas Perry, 37, has also been arrested.Read more

The Philadelphia teacher accused of stealing 42 laptop computers from her school and selling them to a Kensington pawnshop was keeping more than one secret.

Kathleen Kremis, who taught fifth grade at Ethan Allen School in Northeast Philadelphia, was hiding a serious drug problem, police said.

"She's a heroin addict," said Capt. Len Ditchkofsky, commanding officer of major crimes, at a news conference Wednesday.

Kremis, 35, and her former husband, Thomas Perry, 37, were arrested Tuesday morning at Perry's home on the 3600 block of Miller Street in Port Richmond.

Kremis has been a teacher since 1999 and at Allen for two years. She has been suspended without pay pending investigation.

Allen principal Renee Morley described Kremis as a "beloved teacher" with no indication that she was having problems, said Fernando Gallard, a School District spokesman.

The thefts of the computers - mostly Apple laptops - came to light after the owner of the pawnshop called police in August.

He told police he had been buying computers from Kremis since November, Ditchkofsky said. He became concerned after he tried to peel off stickers shaped like flowers that had been applied to the computers. Underneath he found seals stating that the computers were property of the School District, said Ditchkofsky.

In addition to stealing from the school, Ditchkofsky said Kremis and Perry had also defrauded the pawnshop owner.

Kremis sold the store owner some items in closed computer backpacks, and told him the bags contained laptops. The owner had a history of doing business with Kremis and Perry, police said, so he took their word for it.

When the owner eventually opened the bags, he found they had been stuffed with books, Ditchkofsky said.

The couple was paid about $5,000 for the computers, police said. All of the laptops have been recovered.

Kremis' job made it easy for her to smuggle the laptops out of the school, police said.

"She had access to [the computers] and she was there at all hours," Ditchkofsky said.

When asked if Kremis appeared remorseful, Ditchkofsky thought for a moment.

"Embarrassed," he said.