CBS12 News Team

Dozen of batteries stolen from Palm Beach County school buses

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. -- School district police are investigating the theft of dozens of batteries from Palm Beach County school district school buses.

School police say last November someone got into the school bus compound on Summit Boulevard in suburban West Palm Beach twice and stole 43 batteries from about 20 school buses parked at the site.

The culprit or culprits cut through a fence along a canal at the rear of the bus compound and got in there sometime in the middle of the night. The batteries that were taken costs the school district $63 to $125 depending on the type of battery.

Dale Fambrough/Palm Beach County School District: This is the first time its ever happened to us and it's very surprising because it someone takes the time to just take the cables off the batteries and take the battery out of there, they had a lot of time to do it. It's very, very surprising.

Whether it was an inside job or thought to be the work of outsiders is not clear from police reports about the incident. But officials say school bus compounds in Miami-Dade and Broward counties were also hit around the same time and batteries were taken from school buses there as well.

The reports say the school bus batteries contain lead and could possibly be sold to a scrapyard for their metal content. The central bus compound is a gated and locked facility that is totally fence in on all 4 sides.

Authorities say no other items were taken, removed or disturbed on any of the school buses. But a ford utility truck was found running inside the bus compound, and had been moved from its initial location and that truck might've been used to move the batteries after they were pulled from the school buses.

Dale Fambrough: I hope they do catch them and I hope we don't get hit again because it definitely impacted us overall.

The bus compound is equipped with surveillance cameras, but Fambrough says the cameras did not cover the part of the school bus compound where the battery thefts took place.

Whoever the thieves are, authorities feel it was probably the work of more than one person. The batteries are heavy and it would probably take several people to move them.

According to a police report, two bus drivers who were returning from an evening assignment on the night of November 21 saw two adult men in the bus compound, but did not tell their supervisor until the next morning.

The report says the total loss to the district for all those stolen batteries is $840. There have been no arrests.

Tuesday, May 22 2012, 09:20 PM EDT

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