NORFOLK, Va. — A big setback for a Norfolk business owner: he says he lost thousands of dollars in equipment after someone stole his company trailer last Sunday night.
Ricardo Alonso, the owner of the Mexican restaurant "Plaza Del Sol," said the trailer was parked outside his business, full of gear. Alonso said with festival season coming up, this theft is a huge blow.
"I can't believe it still. I thought it was a joke," Alonso said. "I'm still in shock. I don't know how a trailer that's fully wrapped just disappears."
Plaza Del Sol on Colonial Avenue has been a Norfolk staple for years. Alonso also takes the show on the road using his food truck and trailer to prepare and serve food on-site at festivals across the country from California to Colorado.
"It's a trailer that's fully wrapped. How far could it go? How far could it have gotten?" Alonso said. "Or was this a planned thing where it's stored somewhere right now because all my equipment, everything I use to work on the ground at a festival, is in there?"
He had plans to travel to Florida next week to set up at a festival there. But now, all his festival plans are on hold.
"I've been doing festivals so much, you need commercial equipment. So, I've gotten to that level where I've purchased commercial equipment, which is not cheap," Alonso said. "Everything I have: my tents, my banners, my flags, everything is gone. But it all has my logo. So, how far can they go? How far can they get?"
Employees last saw the trailer parked outside the restaurant on Sunday night. By Monday morning, it had disappeared.
"The trailer itself when I purchased it was like $4,500," Alonso said. "My brain is in a million places right now trying to figure out what I need and what I need to get."
Alonso said he hopes someone will spot the stolen trailer around town and call him or the police. The trailer is hard to miss: it has sugar skull decorations, his business logo, and his phone number printed all over it.
Alonso said his business does have security cameras, but they didn't capture the theft because they're pointed at a different part of the parking lot.