Chicago: 8 school buses stolen, shredded into 'big pile of scrap'

[YankeeFan]

Well, this is an interesting crime. They should have accounted for the GPS systems.

Eight school buses were stolen from the Far South Side overnight and driven to a salvage yard, where they were cut apart and shredded into a two-story pile of scrap, police said.

The name of the Sunrise Bus company could be seen among the shards of metal at SRV Metal Scrapper, 3405 S. Lawndale Avenue, police said. Three people were taken into custody.

The 40-foot-long buses, capable of seating 75 people, were stolen sometime overnight from the bus company's yard in the 10000 block of South Torrence Avenue and were not discovered missing until this morning, police said.

The buses were all equipped with GPS tracking devices, and police were able to track "their entire movement" to the scrap yard on the West Side, police said.

When officers arrived, several people who apparently worked in the scrap yard ran into a building, police said. Officers initially apprehended one person and later took two others into custody.

"There was a pile of shredded school buses about two-stories high," one police official said. Some pieces were large enough that police could see the "Sunrise bus logo," the official said.

Engines and transmissions from the buses had already been cut in half, and the seats tossed in a "big pile of scrap."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-school-buses-stolen-20130308,0,1140694.story

 

[LongTimeListener]

Ecoterrorists who want the city to convert to hybrids, that's my guess.

 

[JeffRoper]

Since the scrap yard workers fled, my guess is that they were in on a scheme to sell the metal.

 

[Ace]

Where I went to school, that would have been the senior prank.

 

[Bubbler]

**** worked in Goldfinger.

 

[britwrit]

Junkies. When they get wind of a possible source of scrap metal, I only wish I had their never-say-stop work ethic.

 

[YankeeFan]

Bonnett, president of Sunrise Transportation, estimated his loss at $250,000. Four of the buses were equipped with wheelchair lifts for special education students, he said.

As scrap, the buses probably would be worth $1,500 to $3,500 each, said Joe Pickard, chief economist for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Washington, D.C.

"It seems like a lot of effort for not a big return," Pickard said.

But Gary Bush, a police officer for 32 years before he began keeping track of thefts for the institute, said thieves will take whatever they can.

"Anything that can be stolen, has been stolen," he said. "Literally anything of any value is a potential target."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-school-buses-stolen-20130309,0,5180883.story

 

[YankeeFan]

 

[Versatile]

As scrap, the buses probably would be worth $1,500 to $3,500 each, said Joe Pickard, chief economist for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Washington, D.C.

"It seems like a lot of effort for not a big return," Pickard said.

Did he not get the invitation?

 

[dixiehack]

Good to see Frank Durbin on the case.

 

[exmediahack]

Good to see Frank Durbin on the case.

Nothing to see here. Please move along.

 

[Quiet Man]

Good to see Frank Durbin on the case.

Nothing to see here. Please move along.

Is this some kind of bus?

It's very impressive, yes.

 

[Joe Williams]

Chicago has the strictest anti-schoool-bus-swiping-and-scrapping laws in America. Lot of good it does them there. But the scoreboard still sez Homicides: 1 Gazillion, Buses: 8.

 

[Riptide]

When school buses are outlawed, only criminals will have school buses.