A San Jose woman says she has had two trucks stolen from her small family-owned business in a matter of months.
Every morning, Sophia Zarate says she now comes out to her driveway on South Third Street wondering if her truck will still be there.
“We had one work truck stolen right here from our driveway,” she said. “Somehow they disengaged our cameras so we couldn’t get any info on that.”
A few months later on Sept. 20, thieves struck again, stealing another truck from Zarate’s concrete construction company. She said it happened just 10 minutes after her husband parked it and ran inside their home to grab coffee.
Zarate said another truck has been broken into three times and thieves even stole the tailgate.
Zarate said for her small family business, losing $50,000 worth of vehicles and equipment has hit hard.
“We were really tight this last year by losing the one truck,” she said. “Now losing another truck, it’s too much.”
Zarate is not alone. Maria Mascorro also lives on Third Street and said within two weeks her son had two vehicles stolen from a gated parking garage at their apartment complex.
“We found the car and it was no good, so he has to get a new car,” she said. “So he got the new car, and maybe a couple weeks after, that happened again.”
Both women said they reported the cases to police and now can only wait and hope that the vehicles are found.
The latest numbers from San Jose police show there were 3,514 auto thefts reported from January to June of this year. That’s up more than 12% compared to the same period last year.
Police said they are cracking down on auto thefts by teaming up with other law enforcement agencies.
“SJPD is part of a regional auto theft task force…and these are specialized special operatives who go out looking for people who not only are driving stolen vehicles but are the ones who are perhaps making a business out of stealing vehicles,” Officer Steve Aponte said.
Police are also using license plate readers and an air unit to crack down on auto thieves.
Now, Zarate just hopes her business doesn’t have a third truck stolen.
“We’re just kind of very frustrated,” she said.
This content was originally published here.
