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Mud tire tracks from the stolen Bobcat lead from the construction area, down the new cement stairs and up to the new multipurpose field, where property was damaged. (Kailey Withers)![]()
Doors from the soccer shed were knocked in by the Bobcat, and several others were vandalized. (Kailey Withers)
On the morning of November 27, a student, or students, stole a mini excavator from the construction site near the football field and drove it around school property, causing damage as they went.
According to Plant Operations Manager Mark Harrington, “It seems like a few of our students at 1:00 a.m. on November 27 stole a mini excavator, took it for a joyride, and did some damage.”
Vice Principal Michael Paredes said, “We had a mini excavator, like a small tractor with a little backhoe on it, that was moved from the construction site to the upper field.” He added, “It looked like the tractor was taken down a set of stairs where it caused damage to one of the newly poured concrete walls.”
According to Paredes, they followed the track marks across the new basketball courts up the ramp to the new multipurpose field where they found even more mini-excavator tracks.
Paredes stated, “Following the tracks, it looks like the mini excavator went over to a storage area that holds some of our sports equipment, particularly the soccer shed. The doors to that building were knocked in and looks like it was probably done with the front end of the tractor or the backhoe part of the tractor. In addition, there were some scrapes and gouges from that same bucket on one of the other doors to the building.”
Paredes stated that as they continued to follow the tracks, they came across the mini excavator on the hillside that leads down toward the Robbins’ Street gate.
According to Harrington, it appeared that the culprits had hot wired the mini excavator when they moved it.
Harrington also stated that all the damage was not discovered on the first walk around and that more damage was discovered each time they walked the area.
School Police Officer Matt Luna said, “With the mini excavator being moved and used like it was, it [the crime] would be considered auto theft, stolen vehicle, or similar, as well as vandalism.”
Luna then stated, “For an adult, it would be a potential arrest and jail time for the auto theft and for the vandalism it would depend on the price of the vandalism to determine whether to give jail time or a citation. It would depend on the estimated value of the damage done.” He added, “On the juvenile side, it is a little more complicated. You have multiple dispositions you can take with a juvenile. So what you can do is counsels and formals disposition, you can refer a juvenile to diversion, or you could book a juvenile into juvenile hall.”
Luna stated, “In terms of deciding which form of punishment to take towards the juvenile, it’s a collaboration between the officer and in this case, it happened at the school, so maybe the principal or the vice principals or even other people within the police department. If the juvenile is on probation, you can work with probation. So there could be a multitude of people involved with making the decision, because you want to do what’s best for the particular juvenile and there isn’t always one disposition that fits all scenarios.”