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The theft of a school district food service truck is costing the district over $8,500, according to a Grand Coulee Police Department report issued last Thursday.

The truck was stolen during the weekend of Feb. 9-11, and found the following Tuesday abandoned along the I-5 corridor near Seattle.

Two district employees were dispatched to Seattle to retrieve the truck, and after getting a new battery for the truck, were able to get it home.

The trip, and the tow bill for pulling the truck to an impound yard, cost the district $1,379.50, according to the report.

The big ticket item that turned up missing was a 48-inch warming oven that had been in the rear of the truck, a $4,500 loss.

The thieves used the truck to haul a bunch of salvage metals and a stainless steel fryer, with an estimated value of $2,000.

Police are trying to find where the thieves salvaged the materials.

The materials taken for salvage were locked in a chained fence enclosure. Thieves took the gate off and used the stolen truck to haul the materials away. The value of the salvage materials, including the fryer, came to $2,685, police stated.

It wasn’t clear how much of the loss is covered by insurance.

Thieves broke the lock on the truck door and used a screwdriver to turn the ignition. They had peeled the steering column and Washington State Patrol reports show that there were a bunch of plastic toys scattered in the front seat. The toys had been taken from a locked Head Start location near the back of Center School, near where the truck was located.

Police Chief Mel Hunt stated that he had some interesting parties that his department was checking out.