HILO — A Keaau flower nursery that provides employment to developmentally disabled individuals recovered the company’s van, which was stolen in a weekend burglary.
“We figured it wasn’t going to come back at all,” said Vicki Nelson, president of Puna Kamali‘i Flowers, on Tuesday. “Then this lady called me, and she said, ‘I’m on a walk, and I think I might have seen the same logo that you had on Facebook on your vehicle,’”
“We figured if we ever saw it again, it would be a charred hulk with the windows bashed out, but the van itself was not damaged,” said Nelson’s husband, Tom Nelson. “Of course, they siphoned every bit of gas out, but the van was not damaged. We were shocked. We were very grateful, but we were just shocked.”
The van was found Monday in an empty lot off 14th Avenue near Makuu Drive in Hawaiian Paradise Park. It was stolen — along with a riding lawn mower, weed-eater, floor scale, toolbox with hand tools, Shopvac vacuum cleaner, an office window and its frame, and $400 in petty cash — from the company headquarters in Shipman Business Park.
The break-in was discovered Sunday.
The Nelsons said the burglars cut deadbolts, likely with a cordless saw or blowtorch.
“They ransacked the offices, pulled out all the drawers. It looked like something out of the movies,” Tom Nelson said. He said while inside the office, the burglars had access to the keys to the company’s 2006 15-passenger van.
“Apparently, with all their ill-gotten gain, they needed something to haul it off in, so they loaded it into the Chevy 3500 Express van.”
He added that a neighboring business, Big Island Tree Service, apparently was hit, as well.
“About 90 percent of my tools have got my name engraved on them,” Tom Nelson said. “And Big Island Tree Service, all of their tools have Big Island Tree Service engraved on them. So I don’t know how they’re even going to sell this stuff.”
One item Nelson is hoping will be returned is an antique Black &Decker drill.
“It was my father’s,” he said. “It was about the last thing I had from him; he’s been dead for about 20 years. But you would never sell it to anybody because it’s old and heavy and people just don’t use tools like that anymore. And it, to me, has sentimental value.”
The Nelsons were inspired to start the company almost two decades ago so their developmentally disabled son, Zeb, would have a place to work. About a third of their 30 employees are developmentally disabled.
“We’ve been laying awake the last couple of nights going, ‘What in the world?’” Vicki Nelson said. “You work hard trying to help people and somebody comes and rips you off.”
“Everybody here is paid regular wages,” she added, noting the business isn’t a nonprofit, so it’s subject to wage and labor laws. “We’re just trying to make a go of it so we can pay these people … so they can have a life, buy things, pay taxes and have equal rights like anybody else.”
Despite the burglary, the company was open for business Tuesday.
“We are so grateful that our van came back because we have flower orders going out today. We would’ve all had to use our personal vehicles to do business,” Vicki Nelson said. “I think for the van to be in the location it was, my heart tells me they wanted to give it back, but they didn’t dare drive it here.”
She also thanked the woman who called to give her the van’s location.
“In retrospect, we are lucky they didn’t vandalize,” Tom Nelson said. “They didn’t take a hammer and bash any of the paper shredders or computers. They did not steal any computers or computer screens. They didn’t maliciously destroy things, which would’ve really, really shut us down.”
As of Tuesday, no arrests had been made.