Gardener’s truck and tools stolen in Berkeley

Aug 22, 2023

by: Ella Sogomonian

Posted: Aug 3, 2023 / 10:02 PM PDT

Updated: Aug 3, 2023 / 10:14 PM PDT

BERKELEY, Calif. (KRON) – An East Bay family is asking for the community’s assistance to help their dad get back on his feet. Someone stole his truck and all of his work tools in Berkeley last week.

Javier Quezada runs Quezada Garden Service. He says he was in Berkeley last week when in mere minutes, someone took off with his truck carrying all of his tools worth more than $150,000.

“Everything is gone,” he said. “Blower, lawnmower, weedeater, hedge trimmer, chainsaw, all the equipment that the garden needed.”

A surveillance camera captured some of the theft from around 7 a.m. last Thursday. A black car pulls up close to Quezada’s truck, and then the truck drives away. Quezada says he called police, but he is not holding his breath.

“I know the tools never come back. People sell it for something cheap,” he told KRON4.

The theft couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Quezada. He had also kept his passport and documents in his truck because he and his family were planning to go on a much-needed vacation the next day.

“For 14 days in Mexico to visit my family and take a little break from my sick time in February. I stayed in the hospital for 10 days for TB. So when this happened I feel very bad and mad about it because I don’t have any enemies,” he said.

Quezada has been able to keep working thanks to his neighbors and friends who lent him some old landscaping tools and money to replace the rest. But he says he needs to get a new truck to run his business.

“I have a small truck, the one I use right now, but it’s not very useful for work because it’s too light and I have a trailer…I have to buy another truck,” he said.

Quezada’s daughter has started a GoFundMe page to help her dad get back on his feet.

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