RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s a crime New Mexicans have heard over and over again, a trailer stolen right under the owners nose. This time, thieves got away with thousands of dollars worth of kid’s play equipment from Rio Rancho. “It’s just, it’s just a pretty big hit,” said Morgan Morlen, owner of Littles Land rentals.
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Over the weekend, Morlen woke up to find her livelihood, missing. “I woke up to get ready for a big event, Sunday is Funday at Haynes Park in Rio Rancho, I came out about 6 o’clock to load and it was gone,” said Morlen.
Morlen runs Littles Land, a rental business for children like large inflatable and bouncy house toys. After getting home late from a booking on Saturday, she parked her rental trailer in front of her house and went to bed.
“I always park it outside my house this is a pretty good neighborhood 58;59 it was locked as well it just was not locked to the truck,” said Morlen.
Unfortunately, that was all it took. “It happened pretty quick… from the video, it looks like he drove by once and then came back got out just unhitched, hitched to his, and went away it took less than a minute to take it,” said Morlen. “It took a long time to get all the equipment and honestly a bought everything out of my pocket so it’s, it’s really devastating.”
The thief getting away with over $5,000 worth of various play toys for kids. “There was a lot in the trailer. There was two sets of puzzle mats, white picket fence gates, a white bounce house, blowers, tarps, stakes even the hammer for it a little crawl tunnel they can crawl through,” said Morlen.
And that’s only half of it. “It was a big set that was in there, it was our largest set that was in there,” said Morlen.
The trailer was found Sunday Night but nothing was left inside, leaving Morlen scrambling.
“It really affects the business too because now we can’t do two bookings a day anymore. We have to go call everyone that has booked and we have to go cancel the bookings,” said Morlen.
While Morlen is upset over what was lost, she believes the real victims are the kids. “A lot of this is last minute and there’s not many soft play companies here so it’s kinda hard to get a booking in. You usually have to book a few months in advance so some of them are probably going to be missing out and not be able to get another vendor,” said Morlen.
Morlen said she is going to have to cancel at least 20 bookings between now and November. She also said she will eventually replace it all but she said she won’t be able to anytime soon.
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