NMSU Team Bus Robbed During Football Game

I’m usually all for local organizations and teams making national news (and I do consider Las Cruces to be local) but not in cases like this.

On Saturday, the New Mexico State Aggies football team travelled to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators.  While a Gator victory was all but inevitable, nobody could have predicted that one of NMSU’s buses would be robbed during the contest.

At some point while the game was still being played, the bus, which was parked in a secure location outside the stadium and in close proximity to numerous law enforcement vehicles, was boarded and personal items such as laptops, a passport and even keys were stolen.  The bus was being used to transport NMSU staffers, boosters and athletic director Mario Moccia.

The silver lining to this situation is that there was a witness who saw what happened.  While no suspects have been named yet, police believe that two individuals are responsible for the theft.

While understandably frustrated, Moccia made it a point to clarify that he doesn’t blame the University of Florida.  Moccia said, "In no way, shape or form does this take away from the professionalism and professional courtesy that the University of Florida athletic department showed us or that the law enforcement of Gainesville [did]."

Florida tweeted their apologies directly to Moccia as well.