12-Year-Old Who Took School Bus For Joyride Charged With Doing It Again
The Florida pre-teen who took a school bus for a joyride last month is allegedly a repeat offender.
In late June, the 12-year-old allegedly got behind the wheel of a school bus and drove it about 15 miles on a joyride to Walmart in Panama Beach, Fla. The driver of the bus in question reportedly left the keys in the ignition. Deputies pulled over the bus after being notified by Walmart employees.
On Wednesday morning, apparently a day after his court appearance for the June incident, the same youngster allegedly stole another school bus and drove it 55 miles to Franklin County. He was eventually pulled over by police for erratic driving after about a two-hour joyride. The boy allegedly stole his aunt’s car the night before and then ditched that vehicle when he encountered the bus parked at an elementary school. The aunt’s vehicle is still missing
How did the 12-year-old get the key to the school bus ignition this time? “The juvenile had located a hidden key left in a school bus at Parker Elementary after the bus driver completed his bus route… hiding a key in a parked bus is a temporary standard procedure, so the bus driver was not penalized… school officials are working a new permanent procedure,” a Bay County school district official told the News Herald.
The boy now faces charges of trespassing on school property, grand theft auto, and burglary of a conveyance. He also could be expelled from school in an upcoming hearing.
In the first incident, the pre-teen was charged with grand theft of an item worth more than $100,000 and felony criminal mischief along with grand theft for a missing student recognition device worth about $2,000,
According to Parker, Fla., police chief Charles Sweatt, “Our initial reaction was ‘oh no, not again.'”
Added Sweatt about school bus joyriding suspect Michael Propst, “He’s not unruly or resists arrest or anything of that nature from what I understand. He’s just into stealing vehicles.”
[image credit: Die4kids]
