Van found after theft from Lake City High School

Florence County sheriff’s deputies are investigating the Tuesday theft of a van from Lake City High School on Tuesday, Florence School District 3 Communications Coordinator Brian Huckabee said.

Someone apparently hot-wired the van and plowed through a gate and chain-link fence on campus, Huckabee said.

The van was found Wednesday on McAllister Mill Road, west of Scranton, he said.

It is used by maintenance employees and had been parked behind the school’s vocational center, he said.

The district has no estimate yet on the damage caused to the gate or the fence, which separates the parking areas for buses and students’ vehicles, he said.

Huckabee said the van was an older model white-panel van and that the district bought a newer one earlier this year.

Anyone with information regarding the theft is asked to call the Florence County Sheriff’s Office at at (843) 665-2121 or the state Crime Stoppers hotline at (888) CRIME SC (274-6372). Callers need not reveal their identities.