Someone is stealing scooters.

In the past five days, at least four Kansas University students who live along Ninth Street near campus have reported their motorized scooters stolen.

One of the victims– a self-described “scooter guru” — said she had been flagging down scooter drivers around town and warning them to lock up their vehicles.

“I think somebody is going around joyriding all the scooters in Lawrence, because there’s a lot,” said Falestine Afani Ruzik, 20, whose brand-new Yamaha Zuma, worth about $2,000, disappeared during the weekend from her apartment in the 1000 block of Emery Road.

On Tuesday afternoon, police called her to tell her they’d found the scooter abandoned behind an office building in the 3200 block of Mesa Way. Apparently someone who worked in the building spotted it and called police, she said.

It was crawling with ants, and the steering column had been cracked below the ignition.

Whoever took the scooter emptied the storage compartment under the seat, taking a pair of oversized sunglasses, an Arabic textbook and a helmet, among other belongings. She said it would cost about $150 to fix.

Kansas University student Chris Martin is glad he has recovered his 1976 Yamaha scooter, which was taken earlier this week. Martin found it a few blocks away. At least three other KU students have discovered their scooters missing; all live near Martin, pictured Tuesday at his apartment near Ninth and Michigan streets.

Billy Papa’s $400 scooter disappeared sometime early Saturday from his apartment in the 900 block of Michigan Street. His roommate, Chris Martin, joked that day that it would have been better if his own scooter– a broken-down, 1976 children’s scooter with a flat tire –would have been stolen instead.

The next night, it was.

Martin said he found it a few blocks away. It appeared the culprit realized soon after pushing it away that he or she had just stolen what Martin described as “a piece of junk.”

A fourth student reported her $800 scooter missing early Monday morning from her back yard in the 900 block of Maine Street. As of yesterday, it hadn’t been recovered.

Police have no suspects in the thefts.