Burglar Steals Books From Graduate Student

A metro graduate student is scrambling to prepare for exams after her textbooks were stolen.

She said a burglar broke into her car Tuesday night at her home and took her briefcase.

Police took the call Wednesday morning. 

Leslie Nelson said she was recently let go from her job at a local school because of budget cuts, so she decided to go back to college.

“It’s very, very busy and complex to juggle being a mom, an educator and then continuing the path of education for myself in pursuit of my masters,” Nelson said.

She just started classes at Langston University eight days ago. She said she paid an arm and a leg for her textbooks, only to get "robbed" a second time.

After classes Tuesday night, she left her briefcase in her car outside her home near NW 47 and Pennsylvania Avenue. Then, she made the discovery Wednesday morning.

Her window was shattered and two textbooks were taken, along with homework she'd spent hours on.

“And then the panic attack that followed by not having my notes for the exam and for the four chapter summaries that are due on Thursday,” she added.

At least one of the stolen items surfaced. After filing a police report, Nelson said she found one of her notebooks thrown out into a yard about eight houses down.

The books that were inside the leather briefcase are still missing though. She said it was all worth more than $1,000.

She really hopes to get the books back, but at the very least, the burglars open them up.

“I hope that you read them and I hope that you’re inspired by them and hope that you do something better with your life than breaking into cars,” Nelson said.

The books are Critical Issues in Education, Dialogues and Dialects, Eighth Edition and Reading & Learning to Read, Ninth Edition.

If you have any information about this case, call police.