Trussville, AL - When Trussville police officers discovered three stolen school buses earlier this week, they say it immediately brought to mind other stolen vehicles along the same stretch of Deerfoot Parkway. 

Now, their investigation spans four cities and they say it is not over.

"One bus we believe is totaled. One we were able to start and I think they're still assessing the damage on the other," said Trussville City Schools spokesperson Kelly Bowles.

The school system is making arrangements for the rest of the year to make do without three vandalized school buses.

Nineteen year-old Jeffery Tyler Harris of Clay and 18 year-old Jordon Daniel Cook of Trussville sit in jail charged with the crime. Bowles says Cook is a Hewitt-Trussville High School student who had secured a college scholarship, now in jeopardy.

"Obviously, options that we're considering are suspension or expulsion," Bowles said.

But the teenagers now face even bigger problems. Sergeant Jeff Bridges says he believes they are responsible for at least half a dozen stolen cars recovered in Trussville.

"We just keep working at it, keep trying to put the dots together." Bridges said.

When Trussville officers discovered the buses stashed in the woods they also found a stolen daycare bus set on fire.  Soon after, they recovered a pickup belonging to the city of Mountain Brook and an Alabama Power truck stolen from a work site.

"They apparently climbed the fence, got the truck, drove through it and then it showed up in the same general area," said Bridges.

The thefts all happened at unattended sites.  Bridges says the pair was not working alone and he expects to make more arrests. 

He says the teenagers did not try to make money off the thefts by selling parts.  Their motive seems simple.

"Just appears to be bored," said Bridges.  "Just doing this to have what they consider fun."

Each of the crimes is a felony.  Investigators say they found items belonging to Mountain Brook at the site where they discovered the buses.  Both the Mountain Brook and Alabama Power trucks have been returned to their respective owners.

 

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