Thief steals rental truck with gear for state speech and debate tournament

Thief steals rental truck with gear for high school speech and debate event

Organizers had to scramble a rental truck full of equipment for a speech and debate event in Union City for high school students was stolen.

UNION CITY, Calif. - A thief in Newark made off with a rental truck full of equipment for a high school speech and debate tournament in Union City that draws over a thousand students from across the state.

"It's just emotional exhaustion, the what-ifs: if I had just placed it here, if I had checked on it then," Mikendra McCoy, president of the California High School Speech Association said.

Rental truck with gear stolen from Newark hotel

What we know:

McCoy, who traveled from Carlsbad (San Diego County) said a U-Haul truck filled with gear was stolen from her hotel in Newark either late Wednesday night or early Thursday, just as students and organizers were preparing for a speech and debate tournament being held this weekend at James Logan High School in Union City.

Staff at the volunteer group moved quickly to buy replacement gear from Target and Amazon. 

"I mean, instantaneously you do the things right, you jump into action and find a way to fix it because you have students depending on us, and this tournament is too important to let the excellence of what we do be hindered by the choices of one," McCoy said.

Newark police documented the theft of the 20-foot truck from the Residence Inn. 

Inside the truck was $10,000 in equipment for the tournament, which draws 1,500 students. The stolen items included technical equipment, risers, printers, signs, even 500 "Cali the Cado" mascot stuffies.

But also taken were donated business wear and ties for students unable to bring the professional clothing that they need to deliver their speeches in front of judges.

"They have a clothing emergency at the tournament, or maybe they get here, and they go, 'Oh gosh, my best that I was able to get, isn't quite as good as everybody else," tournament director Angelique Ronald said. "We have new and gently used beautiful clothes that they can just take."

Truck found empty

What they're saying:

Alameda County sheriff's deputies found the truck abandoned and empty at an apartment complex near Hayward. A lock was found broken.

"Then I said, 'Is there anything in the truck, can you just tell me if anything's in the truck?'" McCoy said. "And he said, 'Ma'am, I'm sorry, you'd be disappointed, there's nothing.'"

Noah Martinez, captain of the speech and debate team at James Logan High, had this message for whoever stole the truck.

"You always have to think about who's on the other end of the stuff you're doing, because, you know, you stole a van, and it really affects the entire speech and debate community in California," Martinez said.

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on X @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan