Up to $10,000 stolen from USC Jewish student center

EXPOSITION PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Police were investigating a break-in at the University of Southern California Jewish student center, which was caught on surveillance video.

The eight surveillance cameras on the property caught the suspect coming in and out of the Chabad Jewish Student Center house early Wednesday morning.

He is seen loading up his car with electronic equipment. Rabbi Dov Wagner said the thief got away with anywhere between $8,000 and $10,000 worth of property.

The foreman of the crew working on renovations said the thief got away with some heavy duty power tools and equipment that were locked away in the basement. He estimated his loss between $3,000 and $3,500.

The Los Angeles Police Department's Southwest Station was working the case and said they're just getting their investigation started.

One thing the thief did not take was something the rabbi said he's relieved is still there - a couple of Torah scrolls.

"The Torah scroll here was contributed by a Holocaust survivor who created a foundation to take Torah scrolls from Europe...from before the Holocaust, and restore them and donate them to campuses wanting to bring the past into the future, and thankfully it's still there and it'll still continue to be used," said Wagner.

To replace what was stolen, a GoFundMe account was set up.

Wagner believed the burglary was a crime of opportunity and nothing more.

"You see the images of coming with the car and pulling it up to the back door and loading his car," he said. "It really felt, you know, like somebody had violated our space and gone against what we try to do here, which is to build community."