An 11-year-old girl has been accused of stealing a laptop from an elementary school after her mother found the computer in the girl's bedroom.

Bismarck Police Sgt. Mark Buschena said a 32-year-old Bismarck woman called police on Friday to report finding a stolen computer in her daughter's bedroom. The woman told police her daughter had stolen two computers from Miller Elementary School, 1989 N. 20th St., but had returned one of them, Buschena said.

The stolen computer was an iBook, valued at $1,200, Buschena said.

He said the girl received juvenile citations for theft and unruly juvenile and was released to her mother.

The case will be handled in juvenile court, where records are closed to the public.

Buschena said some parents are willing to turn their children in for suspected crimes when they are worried about their well-being, while others refuse to allow their children to talk to police when they are accused of crimes.

"There's some cases where they're generally concerned about how their kids will turn out,"he said.

- Jenny Michael