Tulsa Police Recover Missouri High Schoolâ€™s Band Equipment

Wednesday, October 13th 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa police recovered a rental truck full of stolen band equipment and uniforms Monday morning. Members of the St. Charles West High School marching band grieved after the truck was stolen from a Broken Arrow Holiday Inn on Saturday. The St. Charles, Missouri band was planning to take part in a Tulsa competition.

Police say the thieves abandoned the truck at the Bristol Park Apartments. The management called police after residents complained that the truck had been sitting there for days. Residents say they began to worry. "Either they had stolen something and they had come and parked there, or maybe there was some bomb like things inside the truck,â€ said resident Lalitha Balakrishman. â€œWe were kind of worried, you know."

The truck was towed to a Catoosa repair shop. Police say the steering column was busted but it looks as though all the belongings inside are untouched. A trailer hitched to the back of the truck, carrying a four-wheeler, is missing. An apartment employee says no one bothered the truck at first, but by the third day, the truck was wide open and looked like it had been vandalized. "It looked like someone had went up in there and grabbed the cooler and started emptying pop cans,â€ said employee David Webber.

One resident says the thieves actually talked to his father. "One guy asked him to jump his car because the guy was following the other guy with the rental truck,â€ said neighbor Saul Mintz. Police say there could be more than one suspect if another car was involved. They say a lot of people touched the truck, so it could be difficult to find the right fingerprints, but the investigation is still in progress. Police say they have no suspects at this time.