{"id":2013920,"date":"2023-08-28T02:21:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T06:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/los-angeles-food-trucks-targeted-by-thieves-taking-advantage-of-gray-area-vendors\/"},"modified":"2023-08-28T02:24:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T06:24:10","slug":"los-angeles-food-trucks-targeted-by-thieves-taking-advantage-of-gray-area-vendors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/los-angeles-food-trucks-targeted-by-thieves-taking-advantage-of-gray-area-vendors\/","title":{"rendered":"Food trucks in Los Angeles targeted by opportunistic thieves exploiting legal loopholes."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flos-angeles-food-trucks-targeted-by-thieves-taking-advantage-of-gray-area-vendors%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2013920&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Thieves Terrorize Food Truck Operators\u2064 and Street Vendors \u2062in California<\/h2>\n<p>Thieves in California have been\u200b causing \u200chavoc for food truck operators and\u2064 street vendors, \u2064resorting to armed robberies to\u2062 steal their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hate-being-spewed-in-the-name-of-patriotism-wapo-opinion-attacks-anthem-before-games-2\/\" title=\"\u2018Hate Being Spewed In The Name Of Patriotism\u2019: WaPo Opinion Attacks Anthem Before Games\">hard-earned money<\/a>. These criminals know that \u2063they are unlikely to be reported or prosecuted for their crimes, making\u200c it a terrifying situation for the victims.<\/p>\n<p>Many of \u200cthese\u2064 vendors\u200d operate without official permits and licenses, existing in the \u2062gray areas of the law. This makes them easy targets for criminals looking to make a quick profit. Despite their\u2064 fear,\u200d these vendors cannot afford to stay home and must continue working\u200d to make ends meet.<\/p>\n<p>Gladys \u2063Lopez, a \u200d51-year-old \u200dcarne asada\u200c vendor in the Westlake area, expressed her \u200dconcerns, saying, &#8220;It&#8217;s making me rethink selling food.&#8221; However, she relies on\u2062 the income to pay for rent \u2064and other necessities, even if it\u200d means putting herself in danger every day.<\/p>\n<h3>Immigrant-run Street Stands Face\u200d Greater \u2062Vulnerability<\/h3>\n<p>In Los Angeles, food truck operators are required to\u2063 have the necessary \u2063city and county permits. However, the\u200d makeshift sidewalk stands that have \u200bbecome popular in recent years often go \u2064unnoticed. While \u200bstreet vending has been decriminalized in California, many of these stands are run by immigrants, some\u200c of \u2064whom are undocumented. This makes them less likely to report\u200b incidents to the authorities.<\/p>\n<p>This summer, there has been a disturbing increase in\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/los-angeles-food-trucks-targeted-by-thieves-taking-advantage-of-gray-area-vendors\/\" title=\"Food trucks in Los Angeles targeted by opportunistic thieves exploiting legal loopholes.\">armed robberies\u200c targeting food stand workers<\/a>. Tacos Los Chemas and four nearby food stands in South Los Angeles\u2064 were\u2062 hit in\u2063 late May and\u2064 early \u200dJune. Sal Martinez, the owner of\u200b Tacos Los \u200dChemas, described the terrifying\u200d experience of having a gun pointed at one of his\u200b employees&#8217; heads.<\/p>\n<p>Similar incidents\u200d occurred on July 9, when four more vendors in the area \u2063were held up within an \u200dhour. On August 16, six taco and street food \u2062stands\u200d were robbed in \u2064Hollywood, Echo Park,\u2064 and downtown Los Angeles. The criminals worked in\u2064 teams, stealing cash and cellphones.<\/p>\n<h3>Advocacy and Support for \u200bVulnerable Businesses<\/h3>\n<p>Rudy Espinoza, executive director of the advocacy group Inclusive Action for the City, highlighted the vulnerability of food trucks and street vendors compared to traditional restaurants. He emphasized the need for the city to \u200cprovide better support and protection\u200c for these entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Police Department has assigned detectives to investigate this emerging crime trend. However, community \u2062members\u200c like Edin Alex Enamorado and Fernando Gonzalez have taken it upon themselves to assist vulnerable businesses. Enamorado, a\u200b former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rnc-election-integrity-chief-gop-to-curb-fraud-in-2022-midterms\/\" title=\"RNC Election Integrity Chief: GOP to curb fraud in 2022 midterms\">regional field director<\/a> for Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Gonzalez \u200coffer their security services for free.<\/p>\n<p>Enamorado&#8217;s Instagram\u2064 page, with over 231,000 followers, provides updates on the crimes and\u2062 whether the perpetrators have been brought to justice. He and Gonzalez have\u2064 also created a WhatsApp group chat for vendors to report suspicious individuals and crimes that may otherwise go unreported.<\/p>\n<p>This issue is not limited to Los Angeles. Robberies against street vendors have been\u2062 on the rise in Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, \u200bwhere nine food trucks and street vendors were attacked in a single morning in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Food truck operators and street vendors in California are being targeted by armed thieves, who demand their daily earnings. These criminals take advantage of the vendors&#8217; reluctance to report the incidents, as many operate without proper permits or licenses. Consequently, these vulnerable vendors are left defenseless against such attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2013921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2013920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2013920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2013921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2013920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2013920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2013920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}