Milwaukee taco truck stolen, found ransacked on Christmas
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee business owner said someone stole his taco truck on Christmas Eve. The good news is, he was able to find it the next night. The bad news is it was completely ransacked.
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Francisco Ortiz and his staff spent seven years building the Taqueria la Vecindad brand – a brand so strong he recently expanded into the taco truck.
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Ortiz said he had the truck up and running for about a month and a half. But on Christmas, he learned someone stole it the night before.
"I saw the truck was not here," he said. "I called my wife, too, and I told her, and she started screaming ‘no way, no, no.’"
Francisco Ortiz
Ortiz called police. His wife posted on Facebook, hoping someone would spot the food truck – and it worked. Ortiz said, later on Christmas, someone found the truck on the city's north side with help from a friend's drone.
The initial relief didn't last.
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"When I saw the truck – I didn’t want to see it inside," Ortiz said. "I started crying because this is how I support my family every day."
Police are still looking for whoever stole the food truck.
Taco truck ransacked
Ortiz said whoever took the truck stole the lights on the outside and everything inside – from sinks and a freezer to fryers and filters.
"All the paper towels, the plates, the silverware, they took everything. I can’t believe it," he said.
Ortiz said it may cost more than $30,000 to fix and replace everything; money he does not have. He started a GoFundMe online fundraiser to help build back the business.
"I feel good that there is good people out there, it’s not all bad people," he said. "There’s still good people that can help each other."