Spring Break Vandals Steal Bayless Elementary Tricycles

St. Louis County police are investigating a break-in and theft from a storage shed at that took place over the district’s spring break. What was taken? Three tricycles.

According to Principal Gina Siebe, a teacher discovered on Thursday, Mar. 22 that the shed had been broken into the night before during spring break. The school found the shed had been broken into again over the following weekend when students and staff returned from break this past Monday.

Three tricycles were missing from the shed and were not found on school property. Other items were removed from the shed and scattered around the playground. The vandals had broken some smaller toys, including a bat and hula-hoop.

“We are financially strapped, and we can’t afford to replace our equipment when it is stolen or broken,” Siebe said. “So this is a great loss.”

The tricycles stolen are used in the preschool, and some of them have more than one seat. Siebe said they cost about $250 apiece.

Siebe said she talked to residents of the homes that border the elementary school, and some of them have agreed to do form a mini neighborhood watch to keep an eye on school grounds and call the police if they spot anyone out after school hours.

The district is also look for clues on a video from one of the school’s security cameras.

The shed break-in is one of several acts of vandalism reported recently around the Bayless district campus. A security camera at the intermediate school was stolen and another camera spray-painted over. Houses nearby reported being recently graffitied as well, Siebe said.