LYTLE, Texas — Another school district has fallen prey to catalytic converter thieves. This time a rural district near San Antonio – Lytle Independent School District – had several vehicles in its bus barn targetted late Tuesday night, according to law enforcement officials.
"Thirteen (13) vehicles had them cut off, including 1 bus and 12 passenger vehicles. Occurred last night between 10:30 PM and Midnight," Lytle Police Department Chief Richey Priest tweeted Wednesday morning.
Lytle had a population of less than 3,000 people as of 2019. It's a city about nine miles outside of Loop 1604 on the city's southwest side, west of I-35, that spreads across Atascosa, Bexar and Medina Counties.
Chief Priest is known for sharing his weekly reports about any and all crime his department sees in his "Weekly Report" emails he sends to local media. He shared on Monday about a catalytic converter theft the previous week that had happened at someone's home and expressed his frustration.
"(It) occurred on Wednesday at a residence on Lytle-Somerset St. A catalytic converter was cut from a 2004 Jeep Liberty. It just seems like we can’t shake these converter thefts," Chief Priest said.
In January, thieves cut catalytic converters from 16 buses parked in a Northside ISD transportation depot. In June of 2021, San Antonio ISD had 20 vehicles in their maintenance fleet hit – amounting to a loss of about $50,000.
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), vehicles that sit higher off the ground, especially high-clearance vehicles, are common targets as they allow thieves easier access to converters. These types of vehicles include trucks, SUVs and vans – although buses and delivery vehicles are also at risk, AAA said.