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NORTH ATTLEBORO - Surveillance cameras installed at the North Attleboro high school-middle school complex helped police nab a theft suspect for the first time Monday afternoon.

The suspect was spotted leaving the high school about 12:18 p.m. by Police Chief Michael P. Gould, who thought the man looked suspicious.

Gould was not in a police cruiser. He was looking at the suspect on a 46-inch wide screen TV monitor at the police station.

The monitor had just been installed Monday by Ken McCarthy, the police department's systems administrator, so police could monitor the cameras at the schools on a large screen.

"He was out of place at that location at that time," Gould said, adding that school was still in session and the suspect appeared on camera to be too old to be attending school. Gould and Capt. Daniel Coyle hopped in a cruiser and decided to investigate with McCarthy, who is also a special police officer.

The suspect, Jared Wainwright, 18, of 1 Quinn St. in North Attleboro, was apprehended walking on Landry Avenue, allegedly with a $1,000 computer projector under his coat, police said.

He was arrested after being questioned by Coyle, who learned the item was taken from a teacher's classroom, police said.

Wainwright, who is a student at North Attleboro High, was charged with larceny of property valued at more than $250.

He was charged with an additional larceny count related to the theft of another projector last Friday. The projector was recovered Monday after an investigation by Detective John Reilly.

The surveillance cameras were installed outside the high school and middle school last month to provide extra security and give police a bird's-eye view of the complex.

A police dispatcher can zoom in for a close up and and zoom out for a more wide-angle view 24 hours a day.

"We installed the cameras for school safety reasons and we monitor them," Gould said.

McCarthy said the cameras are monitored via computer and were placed online two weeks ago.

The $40,000 cameras were paid for by a budget request from state Rep. Betty Poirier, R-North Attleboro, and a federal homeland security grant received by the police department. The police department monitors surveillance cameras at other locations in town, including the parking lot and entrance to Emerald Square mall on Route 1.

Wainright was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Attleboro District Court.

DAVID LINTON can be reached at 508-236-338 or at dlinton@thesunchronicle.com.