‘He has to start from scratch,’: Tacoma business owner’s truck, tools stolen

TACOMA — A Tacoma man is starting from scratch when it comes to his gutter company after his box truck that had all of his work tools inside was stolen right off his property. The owner of the truck, Ron Baker, tells KIRO 7 this all happened late Friday night.

“I couldn’t believe that the big box truck that was sitting right here and it was gone,” Baker said.

Baker says not only is his box truck was already worth thousands of dollars and had some recent upgrades made to it, but he says all of his tools and heavy equipment inside the truck are worth a lot of money as well.

“The machine was $16,000. The truck had a brand-new motor and tranny which was about like $9,000,” Baker said.

His wife, Tahni Kilgour, says this has been a really devastating situation for them.

“He has to start from scratch,” Kilgour said.

“We have to be grateful and try to live in the moment even though this sucks. You know, sometimes it sucks, but it’s ok. It’s going to be another day,” Kilgour said.

Kilgour says both she and a friend have made a GoFundMe to help Baker buy new tools and equipment so he can still do his job. She says the outpour of support has been huge for them.

“Like random strangers have even donated like 5 dollars here and there. It’s just such a beautiful thing for our community,” Kilgour said.

Yet despite the setback, Baker says he’s keeping a positive attitude.

“At the end of the day as devastating as it was, it could always be worse,” Baker said.

KIRO 7 has reached out to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department for more details on the investigation and is waiting a response. Baker has been told a truck that looks like his was spotted in Spanaway early Sunday morning.

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