NEWPORT – Oops, no wonder your bus was late Sunday.
Newport police said Monday that a man wearing a “Rip City” sweatshirt made off with a Lincoln County Transit bus shortly before noon as the driver was refueling it at the fuel station at Northeast Harney Street and Yaquina Heights Drive.
Police said the driver parked at the fuel pumps about 11:48 a.m. Sunday, went inside to use the bathroom only to find the bus had taken off when they were finished.
Newport officers and Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies began canvassing the area, then found the undamaged bus a half mile away in the driveway of a home on Southeast Second Street by using tracking software on the bus driver’s cell phone, which had been left in the bus.
Police said security footage from inside the bus showed a man getting into the driver seat and driving the bus away from the fueling area, then stopping on Southeast Second Street and running away. Police described the man wearing a “Rip City” sweatshirt with its hood up, a hat, red beard, tattoos on his hands and wearing sunglass.
Police asked anyone with information to contact Newport Officer Sean Nieto at 541-574-3348, or the department’s tip line at 541-574-5455, or Text-a-Tip at 541-270-1856 or tipline@newportpolice.net.
