After returning to their bus after the Tournament of Bands competition at Cupertino High School on Oct. 8, several members of the Color Guard were shocked to discover that almost every bag had been searched through and items had been taken.

The stolen items, together worth several thousand dollars, included tech supervisor Ken Ochi’s professional grade camera and a cell phone, wallets and cash from numerous other victims. They were taken when the bus was left unattended for approximately three hours during the competition.

“[The theft] made me feel kind of vulnerable because someone was able to take all of the things in the bus without anyone actually seeing them,” said freshman Vicky Fontanilla, whose Droid X cell phone was stolen from her bag during the competition. “At least I had insurance on my phone, so I’m able to get a new one now.”

While not everyone was victimized, many students came back to find their bags opened and searched through. Only a few items were actually taken and many items with more value such as cell phones and credit cards were left behind because they were easily traceable.

The marching band typically takes coach buses that are more secure to its competitions, but since this was a local competition held at Cupertino High School, the group traveled in school buses, which are easier to break into.

Senior Alex Ju was shocked to discover that $40 had been taken from her wallet.
“Though upon reflection, the buses were an incredibly easy target, such thievery never took place during my previous six seasons [in Color Guard,]” Ju said.

As the rest of the marching band members had already changed into uniform at the school, they did not take any items with them to the competition. Color Guard, which changes on the buses, and assisting tech crew, however, took their belongings to the competition and left them in the bus.
Junior Kelly Liu had $30 stolen from her wallet, but other items, which included a debit card and camera, were left untouched.

“I still can’t believe that somebody out there targeted a high school band bus during a competition. And now he or she has our valuables,” Liu said. “It just goes to show that the real world isn’t as safe as Saratoga and we all should keep caution of our belongings.”

Upon arriving back at school, the missing items were reported to the police. There are no suspects in the case.