2 Trussville school buses reported stolen

Trussville buses stolen (Added: December 07, 2009)

Trussville authorities are on the lookout for missing school buses, believed stolen over the weekend. (more)

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2 Trussville school buses reported stolen

NBC13 Photojournalist Jamey Bryan shoots video of bus lot at Hewitt-Trussville High School.

By Linda White
Published: December 07, 2009

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TRUSSVILLE, Ala.-- Trussville authorities are on the lookout for missing school buses, believed to have been stolen over the weekend.

Two buses were stolen from Hewitt-Trussville Middle and one from the high school. Officials suspect they were taken between Saturday & Sunday.

Missing from this lot at Hewitt Trussville High School and this one at the middle school... Three buses total. They were taken some time between Saturday and Sunday.

Trussville City Schools, Kelly Bowles said, "Right now we're trying to narrow down that timeline, working with the Trussville police department and some tips that we've gotten in."

One of those tips a parent coming back from the SEC Championship game who noticed an unusual vehicle near the high school campus.

Bowles said, "And he was able to get that license plate so he turned that in just to see if that would possibly help anybody with a lead."

A construction gate usually standing and closed on the weekends was left on the ground leading up to the high school. Authorities believe the suspect plowed through the gate in order to get down the road, to the school, to the school buses. Now authorities are investigating several theories, including whoever took the buses, had to know how to drive them.

Bowles said, "They haven't narrowed it down right now to determine if it was an inside job or someone outside or student or anything. We're unsure right now."

And another theory those buses are long gone out of the country.

Bowles said, "They're worth a lot of money over the border and if you can get them that far with enough time frame that you could do something with them. They're worth about 10 or 15 thousand dollars over the border but that's a theory we don't know for sure."

While the district has had pranksters in the past who've vandalized buses and released air out of tires they've never experienced anything like this.

The buses, which were insured, will cost 78 thousand dollars each to replace with 2010 buses.