"We probably had maybe six grand worth of tools in it," Isaza said. "It was hard because I had to get (my) guys' tools. I had to invest a little more money, get a loan, and try to get their tools back to finish the job."
Isaza said he was lucky that most of the materials for that job were inside the building they were working on, but the van cost him $4,000 in cash, and he never got it or the tools inside of it back.
Since then, Isaza said he continued to invest in his company, but had two more work vans stolen while on the job.
13 Investigates found it's part of a growing concern in Houston, where work vans are stolen not for the vehicle, but for the tools inside.
"It's your HVAC guys, your electricians, your plumbers. These are the guys we rely on for just our basic comforts, and unfortunately, they are being targeted," Houston Police Department Auto Theft Sgt. Tracy Hicks said.
13 Investigates requested the most stolen vehicles from HPD, and although no specific van makes the top 15 list for most stolen vehicles, when you add up the different makes and models of vans, primarily used by workers, they were the fourth most stolen vehicle last year. So far this year, the vans are the fifth most stolen vehicle.
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Hicks said he's recovered several nondescript white worker vans during his time working in the auto theft department, and almost every time one of them is stolen, police learn the suspect didn't steal them to resell the van or to take it apart. He said they steal the vans to wipe them out.
"An older van, there's not a lot of resale value, but why they're stealing them is because what's inside of them," Hicks said. "These hard workers have, over many years, saved up thousands of dollars' worth of tools, and unfortunately, these predators actually are targeting these people hoping they're going to get their labor for all their work (and) just steal it."
Hicks said even though it could be time-consuming at the end of a long work day, he recommends people don't leave their expensive tools and equipment in their cars overnight, especially since they've become such a target for thieves.
"I know it's a pain, but the pain of having to replace what you make your money with is going to be worse," Hicks said.
He said another thing people can consider to protect themselves is to buy a steering wheel lock.
"It's very inexpensive. It's not foolproof, but if you've got one on there, it's going to help, maybe hopefully get them to find an easier target," Hicks said. "Another way is obviously having trackers, having anything you can do to disable your vehicle, and the guys who have been hit before, they are doing that now."
Isaza said he had a GPS in his work van, the second time it was stolen, but the thieves found it and disabled it, so that van was never recovered.
"This one was a really big blow because we were just starting a construction part of a business, and we had all the materials to finish this job, and it was about I think $20,000 worth of materials," Isaza said. "Plus, the van was a little bit more expensive, so that one was like $30,000 that we lost, and the thing is, we were finishing the job, so we had to buy those materials back, no matter what, to finish the job, or we were going to get sued for it."
Isaza said he invested $30,000 from his savings to keep his business afloat, and everything was going great until he was hit again.
"They took everything out of it," Isaza said. "They took all the material that was in it. They took all the tools we had. From the second van that got stolen, we invested a little more into material, into stock that we needed, into power tools. All that was gone, completely gone."
Isaza said whoever stole the van abandoned it in a restaurant's parking lot, and he was able to recover it because the owner called to ask if he was planning on moving his van.
Now, Isaza said he has five GPS trackers inside just one vehicle, including inside some of the toolboxes.
He said he also instructs his employees that the work van should never be unattended. For example, he said, if they go out to eat, they should get their food to go. Or he said, whenever they have to make a run to a hardware store, two workers should go and one of them should stay to keep an eye on the van while the other one purchases supplies.
"I can't tell a customer, if I'm in the middle of a job or middle of a project, 'Hey, hold off because my van just got stolen,'" Isaza said. "So you got to just get it repaired, you got to get it done, you got to get the job completed, but it's sitting ducks."
Hicks said once someone becomes a victim of a crime, they're more likely to take proactive steps to prevent it from happening again. But, he encourages people to take those steps before they become a victim of this type of theft, especially since it impacts their livelihoods.
"Most of us, it would be hard to steal what you do," Hicks said. "But for these guys, that's literally how they make their money, and if I take it, how do I get the money to replace that stuff? It is really heartbreaking because a lot of us in a lot of professions don't have to deal with (this). Someone's not going to be able to steal what I make my living with."
Isaza said it's been difficult for his business to grow given all the financial setbacks associated with having his vans stolen, but he said he hasn't let it impact his attitude.
"Thank God that he's always blessed me," he said. "Like when that second van got stolen, the next month was one of the best months we've ever had. ... so it was great. Every time something got stolen, God always provided somewhere else. It's hard. We would have been in a better place, but that's the situation here in Houston right now."