"... His best bet is local law enforcement, but even this is likely a waste of time. What can they possibly do? ..."
Disagree.
The law has a long memory and criminals are stupid. Better to get a record of the events logged. Some time in the future this person/persons will try it again and a pattern emerge. In some ways, stealing laptops is like stealing cars in the past. Instead of a get-away car, the criminal now has a get-away computer with someone else's fingerprints on it.