Delaware State Police News Release Timothy E. Winstead

Joint Investigation: NCCPD / DSP Arrest Burglary Suspects

Released- Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Delaware City- On July 1^st, the Delaware State Police and the New Castle County Police completed an investigation into a string of burglaries and thefts at Gunning Bedford Middle School (801 Cox Neck Road).

This investigation revealed that several burglaries had occurred over the span of four months at Gunning Bedford. In these incidents, the suspects targeted copper wire and tubing.

DSP and NCCPD teamed up to bring the suspects to justice. On June 29^th, the two agencies conducted surveillance at the school. At approximately 1:10 a.m., investigators observed a Jeep Liberty pull up onto school property with its lights out. The officers saw two male suspects burglarize a construction site at the school where they took a spool of copper wire. The suspects responded back to the Jeep with their prize. Officers moved in and took the suspects into custody after the bandits tried to flee. A large pair of bolt cutters was recovered during the investigation.

The suspects were identified as Geoffrey Schandel, 27, of Brookedge Court in Newark, and Josh Liebal, 21, of Akins Street in Bear. Schandel was the driver of the Jeep.

There is more to this story… Detectives learned a company identified as Delcard Associates was contracted to do the work at the school. It was uncovered that an employee of Delcard, identified as Gary Good, 38, of Verdio Circle in Newark, was actually providing information to Schandel which assisted Schandel in committing the following burglaries:

· March 29^th- Copper wire valued at $3,750.00 stolen. {belonging to Delcard Associates}

· April 3^rd- Copper piping valued at $5,000.00 stolen. {belonging to Gunning Bedford}

· May 4^th- Attempted burglary.

· June 29^th- Copper wire valued at $300.00 stolen. {belonging to Delcard Associates}

As one would note- Delcard also was victimized and it should go without saying they had nothing to do with these incidents.

Yesterday morning officers responded to the job site at Gunning Bedford School where they took Good into custody.

Josh Liebal was only implicated in the June 29^th incident and cited with the following offenses: Possession of Burglars Tools (felony), Burglary 3^rd (felony), Conspiracy 2^nd (felony), Theft (misdemeanor), Criminal Mischief (misdemeanor) and Resisting Arrest (misdemeanor). At the time of arraignment, he was committed to the Howard Young Correctional Institute in lieu of $3,100.00 secured bond.

Geoffrey Schandel was implicated in all of the aforementioned cases. He was formally charged with the following offenses: two counts of Theft (felony), three counts of Burglary 3^rd (felony), Attempted Burglary (felony), four counts of Criminal Mischief (misdemeanor), Theft (misdemeanor), four counts of Conspiracy 2^nd (felony), Resisting Arrest (misdemeanor) and Possession of Burglars Tools (felony). At the time of arraignment, he was committed to the Howard Young Correctional Institute in lieu of $8,400.00 secured bond.

Gary L. Good was implicated in all of the aforementioned cases. He was formally charged with the following offenses: two counts of Theft (felony), three counts of Burglary 3^rd (felony), Attempted Burglary (felony), four counts of Criminal Mischief (misdemeanor), Theft (misdemeanor) and four counts of Conspiracy 2^nd (felony).At the time of arraignment, he was committed to the Howard Young Correctional Institute in lieu of $1,500.00 secured bond.

The Delaware State Police formally thanks the New Castle County Police for their willingness to assist with this investigation which culminated in the arrests of these subjects.