A Tallahassee woman says her food truck was stolen in broad daylight Wednesday.
For the last seven months, CC’s Kitchen had been cooking up seafood off West Tennessee Street, with owner Cierra Bennett finding a lifelong dream coming true.
But now her dream is all on hold.
Bennett says someone stole her food truck and police discovered it hundreds of miles away covered in spray paint.
Normally, the lot at the intersection of West Tennessee Street and White Drive in Tallahassee would be packed on a Friday night with folks eager to start the weekend with a seafood dinner. But this Friday, all that remains in the lot is an empty freezer.
Bennett sold seafood platters out of her home for years, but finally earned enough last summer to buy a food truck worth more than $40,000.
She found her business thriving, even during the pandemic, but Thursday, she showed up to an empty lot.
After overcoming the initial shock, she remembered the truck had a tracking device.
The truck was in Lakeland, and Bennett said she realized a part of her was taken along with the truck…
“My whole soul was taken from me like my name was over the truck, a picture of me was all over the truck, I literally had 12 pictures of me on there,” said Bennett.
Bennett said that Lakeland police sent her photos showing black spray paint covering nearly everything on the trailer.
A Lakeland Police spokesperson confirmed the trailer had been found Friday morning, parked on a boarding house property. Police are still investigating possible suspects and haven’t made any arrests, LPD confirmed.
Despite finding the trailer, it’s still a devastating setback for Bennett, who said her business was the only source of income for her household, which includes five kids.
Bennett created a GoFundMe page and promises to rebuild her dream, hoping to reopen the food truck in the next month or so.