Early on July 6, Hughson ag teacher Kelly Larson and her husband arrived at the high school ag building. Their plan was to transport 21 pigs raised by FFA members to the Stanislaus County Fair in Turlock. However, they discovered that the 2007 Ford 350 pickup and 24-foot livestock trailer they planned to use were missing.
Hughson School District shared details on the event yesterday on their website. According to the school district, the ag truck was typically stored in the ag building on campus, and the trailer was kept at the school’s 10-acre farm nearby on Whitmore Avenue.
To prepare for weighing the FFA pigs, ag teacher Brett Baker had hooked up the trailer the night before and parked it on Seventh Street next to campus, as the trailer was too long to fit in the ag building together.
Initially, Larson thought Baker had moved the truck and trailer to the school farm. However, a quick check and calls to Baker and other ag instructors confirmed that they had indeed been left on Seventh Street. Someone had stolen them.
“I was in utter shock,” Larson told reporters from Hughson High. “My husband said I handled it well. I was in shock for about 30 seconds, then I went into survival mode.”
Larson notified the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department and began evaluating options to get the 21 pigs to the fairgrounds by their 8:10 a.m. weigh-in deadline. Word spread quickly through phone and social media, and just as quickly, the community responded.
One of those posts, shared by the Hughson Ag Boosters, was shared over 1,300 times and included updates as the truck and trailer were located.
“Within five minutes, we had offers to help,” Larson said.
The Burroughs family provided a large trailer to transport all the pigs to Turlock and returned the next morning to haul sheep and goats to the fairgrounds.
Meanwhile, the mystery of the stolen truck and trailer was just beginning to unfold. Assistant Principal Natalie Moring reviewed security footage showing the truck and trailer parked on Seventh Street. The video showed the suspects’ vehicle arriving around 5 a.m., popping the door lock, jamming the ignition, and driving away.
“The detectives told us truck and trailer thefts are on the rise,” Larson said. “They’re stolen and resold outside the area.”
Fortunately, the truck and trailer were found later that day in a neighborhood in Ceres. Detectives told Larson that camera footage showed the suspect vehicle returning to Ceres in the afternoon to unhitch the trailer and take the truck again. The truck was later recovered in a different part of Ceres. No arrests have been made yet.
Despite the ordeal, there was a happy ending. The truck can be repaired, and the trailer is back where it belongs. Larson is most grateful for the overwhelming community support.
“After we posted it on social media, people were sharing it literally as far as the East Coast,” she said. “The community response was just amazing. It’s definitely one for the history books. We won’t forget. It brought tears to our eyes that the response was so quick. It’s been that way all week. Not just the community, but other people at the fair, saying, ‘Anything you need, just ask.’
“We are very fortunate at Hughson to have our community.”
