A quick-fingered rifling of a backpack wasn't fast enough to let Michael William Taylor escape the law last October. A security guard spotted the move and later connected the dots when the backpack's owner, a student at Menlo School, reported that his iPad had been stolen, according to the district attorney's office.

A former assistant baseball coach at Menlo School, Mr. Taylor voluntarily came in to the Atherton Police Department and confessed to stealing two iPads from the campus. The two iPads were later found in a search of Mr. Taylor's San Leandro apartment, according to a Nov. 16 report to the Atherton City Council.

In an odd twist, a Nov. 10 article on the school's website described how Mr. Taylor and a student helped catch two Menlo College students who were later arrested on suspicion of stealing backpacks from campus.

He pleaded no contest on March 28 to misdemeanor petty theft in San Mateo County Superior Court. The judge sentenced him to three days in county jail, with credit for one day served, and 18 months' probation. He also owes $212 in restitution and court fees.

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