A small business is devastated after a thief stole their work van and escaped with thousands of dollars worth of valuable tools.
Video captures the brazen theft early Monday morning. The suspect was caught on camera stealing a van from Air One Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing, a family-owned business in Colton.
The family is now struggling to work during their busiest season after being left without the necessary tools.
“I’m hoping everyone will look at his picture and some good citizen will alert the authorities,” said Trina Lozano, whose family owns the business. “He has big stretchers on his ears. He has an owl tattoo on his hand.”
Lozano said one of the business’ techs took the van home and parked it overnight in a quiet neighborhood on London Avenue near Victoria Street in Rancho Cucamonga.
Just before 6 a.m., Lozano’s husband received a GPS alert that the van was on the move.
“It was like five something in the morning, which we thought was odd,” she said.
When she checked the cameras that morning, she witnessed a shocking image.
I was like, ‘What?! That is not our employee,’” Lozano recalls. “I was sort of shocked. The van got stolen and that’s when we realized so I went and called 911.”
Based on the GPS tracker, the thief stops at a location in Rancho Cucamonga. This is where he presumably unloaded the thousands of dollars worth of equipment. He then left the ransacked van at the parking lot of a Legends Burgers restaurant on Base Line Road.
The thieves got away with most of the van’s tools and equipment including “a lot of our big plumbing equipment, drain cleaners and snakes,” Lozano said. “The damages pretty much are all to the locks and the ignition.”
The suspect also ripped off a dash camera and broke the window. Lozano estimates the losses at around $15,000.
The theft is a major blow to the small family-owned business during the summer season when they are typically the busiest. They generally receive calls for plumbing and air conditioning services around the clock this time of year.
Unfortunately, Lozano said this isn’t the first time they’ve been targeted.
“This big truck, we’ve had to put cages for the catalytic converters underneath because they’ve come in here,” she said.
Lozano is hoping the police will locate the suspect responsible soon to prevent another business from being targeted and devastated.
Anyone who recognizes the suspect or has information is asked to call Rancho Cucamonga police at 909-941-1488.