DANDRIDGE (WATE) - The Jefferson County Sheriff is looking for the person or people who stole a school bus from a bus driver's home Wednesday night.
Jefferson County Schools bus driver Robert Ellis said he noticed the bus, #46, missing Thursday morning when he went outside to start his route.
Ellis reported the theft and continued his route using a spare school bus.
Sheriff Bud McCoig said the bus was taken from Ellis' home on R.H. Ellis Road in Dandridge between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
The school system owns the buses, but allow drivers to take them home.
Ellis told officials the keys were not in the ignition, but a set of spare keys had been hidden on the bus.
The bus was spotted after 9:00 p.m. behind a gas station near Exit 415.
Officials later located the bus about two miles from Ellis' home. They believe the bus was taken for a joyride and then abandoned.
