RIVERSIDE — A food truck owner made a big investment in her business only for someone to take a generator right off the back of her truck this weekend, and now she wants it back.
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Nicole Cornett, owner of Billie Gold Bubble Tea posted a picture of what happened on social media this weekend.
News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis spoke with her Sunday night and said someone took the generator right off the back of her truck as it was sitting on the side of U.S. 35.
Cornett said she was driving the food truck home Saturday when she ran out of gas on Eastbound U.S. 35 and stopped near the Woodman Drive on-ramp. She walked to a gas station and when she returned to her truck, the generator was nowhere to be found.
Cornett went on social media Saturday to get the word out about what happened to her.
“So, I’m on the side of 35 right here, like literally, my bus ran out of gas,” said Cornett. “I’m not sure, my gas gauge is having problems. I’m right off of the exit of 35. I’m not joking. I was gone for 10 minutes. I walked. I got a gas can. I came back, somebody stole my generator.”
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She owns the Billie Gold Bubble Tea Food Truck and was driving home Saturday evening after 5:30 p.m. when the gas gauge on the truck gave her issues and suddenly claimed she was out of gas.
Cornett said they walked over to the nearest gas station and were there for no more than 15 minutes. When she returned, she said the generator that was strapped down on a rack at the back of her food truck was gone.
“I’ve honestly left my vehicle,” she said. “I think parked places longer than 10 or 15 minutes and not ever thought that somebody would steal it off from there.”
Cornett told Lewis the generator was a big investment in her bubble tea business that cost more than $5,000.
“It’s just a bummer that someone just saw the opportunity in the 15 minutes that I was away and I was having a crisis myself,” she said.”
Cornett does have a smaller generator that will allow her to continue operating the truck in the meantime.
“The best case scenario in my mind would be for the generator to be returned,” she told Lewis. “Who steals from a business?”
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Since sharing her story on social media, Cornett says the shares and comments have been such a boost, and has even been getting tips from people online.
“It’s like a whole community of people,” she said. “They’re really rallying with me to help me get this generator back and I like love them so much. It’s a great community.”
Cornett told Lewis an eyewitness said they saw two men load the generator onto a smaller yellow pickup truck.
Riverside Police confirmed to News Center 7 a police report has been filed.