Michael Smith’s three friends dobbed him into police as the ringleader when the group was busted breaking into Wodonga South Primary School.

He pleaded guilty when appearing at Wodonga Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Smith used a small jemmy bar to pry open a door at the school, then the group ransacked the building and stole nine laptops.

They set papers on fire on a desk, which set off a silent alarm and alerted police to the burglary.

Police chased the four offenders on foot and arrested Smith in nearby Kelliher Avenue, where they found two laptops in his backpack and the jemmy bar in his pocket.

He then admitted to two other burglaries at the school on October 20 and 22, where he stole five laptops.

Smith’s arrest came after a month of he and his friends stealing cars and the valuables inside, targeting vehicles left unlocked in Wodonga.

The court heard they stole cash, sunglasses and mobile phones from five cars between October 2 and 15.

Smith also picked up a set of keys dropped on the front lawn of a Mitchell Drive home between October 7 and 9 and returned on October 10 to steal the Suzuki Vitara.

Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Penny Lawler said one of his friends took over driving when they reached a dirt road in Browns Plains, but lost control after pulling up the handbrake and crashed the car into a tree.

“All of the accused have run from the vehicle, leaving the key inside,” she said.

They stole a Ford Falcon on the night of October 14, having found the keys in another unlocked car at the same property.

Smith drove the car to the Caltex service station in High Street and filled it with $14.20 in petrol, but when he could not restart the car, it was abandoned and the thieves ran away.

Leading Senior Constable Lawler said he told police he “wanted to go for a joy ride, just a bit of fun”.

Solicitor Mario Vaccaro said Smith had been diagnosed with autism and had been homeless for the past two months.

“It’s a fairly substantial spree of offending in a limited amount of time,” he said.

Magistrate Ian Watkins adjourned the case until Wednesday to get a pre-sentence report to see if Smith was suitable to serve time in a youth justice centre.