An 11-year-old in Ramona has learned a hard lesson about running a roadside business. His family says his lemonade stand was stolen over the weekend, and it was all caught on camera.
The thief got away after stealing the boy’s lemonade stand on Sunday evening.
You may not know when to teach your kids the good guys from the bad, but for Kery Rader, it was eight days after her son Liam’s 11th birthday.
“That’s wrong. You know it’s not yours. Its not free. It belongs to somebody,” Rader said.
In the security video, you see Liam leaning his head against the utility pole, expressing his profound sadness. But Liam wasn’t the only one recorded on the Diamond D Feed and Supply security camera. The moment before this heartbreak was the reason for it.
“Why would this happen? Why would he do that? Take from a kid that is just trying to sell lemonade,“ Liam said.
On the video, you see a man in a silver pickup, passing through a busy intersection when it caught his eye. With little hesitation, he turned the truck around and pulled alongside Liam’s lemonade stand.
“About halfway through the video, you can see he picks the sign up, and he reads it,“ Rader said.
“In really big letters, it said ‘Lemonade.’ Below it, said, ‘Small $1, large is $3. Saving for a dirt bike. Anything helps. Thank you’ with a smiley face at the end,” Liam said.
The man tossed the sign, took a quick look around, then loaded the lemonade stand in the back of his truck.
Liam had paid the hundred dollars for the table and chairs from his earnings. He has been selling lemonade at the corner of D and Fifth Street for about a year and a half. Everybody who lives in the homes nearby know who he is. But no one seems to know who stole his stand.
“Someone who is rude and selfish and has no feelings for other people and only cares about himself,“ Liam said.
The lemonade stand disappeared down the road in the bed of the pickup. Liam waved, but it was no use. In the time it took to run home and get more cups, about two minutes, his business was gone.
“Ultimately, I hope that he doesn’t use this experience to think all people are like that and there’s not good people in this world,” Rader said.
The sadness of Liam’s misfortune spread through the neighborhood. It was met with support he wasn’t expecting. A fellow business owner sent him $100 and a card that read: “Keep smiling. Don’t let this that happened let you down.”
So keep your eyes peeled for Liam’s new lemonade stand and the person behind the wheel of the silver pickup. The security video was turned over to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. So far, there have been no arrests or leads.
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