A Richmond family is appealing to fellow community members to be on the lookout for a custom-made taco cart that was being stored inside a U-Haul truck that was recently stolen near their home.
Raquel Santana-Pizana said she and her husband rely upon the taco cart for part-time work that helps pay for their daughter’s tuition at Salesian College Preparatory. When they’re not working their respective full-time jobs, Santana-Pizana and her husband usually sell tacos from their cart at Cutting Boulevard and S. 28th Street on Fridays and Saturdays.
This past Sunday, Santana-Pizana said she rented a U-Haul truck in order to transport her taco cart to the Richmond Rod & Gun Club, where she planned to cater a memorial for a cousin’s father who recently passed away. Santana-Pizana said the U-Haul was parked near their home at the Richmond Village Apartments Sunday night, but when she left home Monday morning to take her daughter to school, she noticed it was gone, along with the taco cart inside it.
Santana-Pizana reported the theft to police. Just before 9:30 a.m. Monday, an officer attempted to stop the stolen U-Haul in the 11900 block of San Pablo Avenue, leading to a pursuit, Richmond police Capt. Al Walle reported. The pursuit involved the California Highway Patrol and Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, which used spike strips to disable the U-Haul at Interstate 80 and Richmond Parkway, Walle reported.
While the U-Haul was recovered and a suspect was taken into custody, the taco cart has not been located, Santana-Pizana said.
She said her main concern is the cart is custom made and fears a high cost to replace it. Other items related to her business were also stolen, but the cart is the most valuable to the business they rely upon to help pay for their daughter’s education, she said.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the cart is asked to contact Santana-Pizaña at (510) 932-6696, and/or the Richmond Police Department at (510) 233-1214.
The one silver-lining to this story: Santana-Pizana still managed to successfully cater the memorial event for her cousin’s late father. She credited the Rod & Gun Club’s available kitchen for that outcome.
