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Trailer full of donations for homeless veterans stolen from Layton neighborhood

Posted at 5:49 PM, Nov 03, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-03 19:49:22-04

LAYTON, Utah — A Layton woman is heartbroken after the trailer carrying donated items she collected for the homeless was stolen.

Jen Kirchhoefer’s brand new trailer is easy to spot. It’s wrapped with her picture, a Real Estate business logo, and, on the back, a photo of a horse.

“It’s not discreet,” as Kirchhoefer put it.

The trailer is carrying precious cargo.

“We’ve been collecting canned food items and boxed food items and hats, coats, gloves, boots, scarves,” Kirchhoefer said.

For the past six weeks, she’s collected thousands of donations from the community, all to help homeless veterans in Ogden.

“It feeds them for almost the whole year," she said of the annual project. "Last year, we got close to 100,000 food items, so it’s going to hurt them."

What hurts even more, North Layton Junior High helped with the donation drive as part of a contest to raise money for the school. With the trailer gone, they lose out.

“That for me is the bigger heartbreak then the trailer, a trailer can be replaced,”  Kirchhoefer said.

Jen did receive some good news this morning.

“Police called me early this morning and said we may have found some of your stuff,”  Kirchhoefer said.

The suspects crashed into Jay Frye’s garage and ditched the truck.

“I open the window and asked the cop what was going on, and he said 'Stay in the house, stay in the house. 'There’s a couple of suspects on the loose here.',” Frye said.

Layton City Police arrested 18 year-old Francisco Orozco Gutierrez. He’s facing felony theft charges.

Inside the vehicle were tons of stolen items, including a box from inside Jen’s trailer. Police tracked down a second suspect at a Layton home. Two stolen trailers were found, but neither of them belonged to Jen.

In the meantime, Jen has until November 7th to drop off the donations to the Salvation Army in Ogden. She’ll do her best to collect as much as she can, even without a trailer.

“They’re not going to stop us,"  Kirchhoefer said.

If you would like to help Jen reach her goal and donate some items, call 801-645-2134.