Bus driver suspected of burglary

A private school is reviewing all drivers who take students to and from its Newport Beach campus after one allegedly rifled through a student’s wallet last week, school officials said Wednesday.

Newport Beach police arrested Kelly Christine Alaniz, 44, on suspicion of commercial burglary at Sage Hill School, 20402 Newport Coast Drive, on Oct. 8.

According to the head of the school, Gordon McNeill, while the students were at track practice, a physical education teacher saw Alaniz going through a student’s backpack in the locker room.

It appeared that she was looking through a wallet inside the backpack, McNeill said.

Nothing was missing from the backpack, he said. Police are investigating whether Alaniz is responsible for $150 a student reported missing from the same locker room a day earlier.

According to McNeill, Alaniz’s “JFK” insignia on her shirt gave away that she was the bus driver who works for JFK Transportation out of Santa Ana.

Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

McNeill said this appeared to be an isolated incident and that the company has given Sage Hill School administrators records on all the drivers it uses for the school.

“JFK has been good to us,” he said. “They’ve responded exactly how we would expect them to in this type of situation.”

Alaniz was arrested and freed on $20,000 bail. Detectives will forward their report to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Alaniz was ticketed several times in recent years, according to court records. She was cited for a seat belt violation in 2001, and speeding in 2003 and 2004. She got an unresolved ticket for allegedly running a red light in 2006, and an unresolved ticket for failure to obey a traffic sign in August.

Alaniz also had a warrant out related to an alleged hit-and-run incident in 2005, according to court documents.