Thief uses U-Haul to steal kids’ party train

WEST PARK, Fla. (WPLG) - The owner of a yellow trackless party train is back in business after the vehicle, stolen by a thief in a U-Haul truck, was returned.

“Kids, man, they have a fabulous time,” Greg Jackson, the owner of Tycoon Party Rentals, said.

Jackson loves his job and his yellow train, the main attraction of his small party rental business. He employs kids and pays them $10 an hour.

“We have almost 20 kids on our payroll to keep them off the streets, you know what I’m saying?” Jackson said.

All the good fun came to a screeching halt Monday morning just before 4 a.m.

A U-Haul drove to Jackson’s warehouse unit where the suspected driver hitched the train to it and hauled it away.

The theft happened in less than 10 minutes.

Moments after WPLG first aired the story, Jackson got a call from a viewer.

“Said, leave me anonymous but this is where your train is at, this is the address,” Jackson said.

WPLG captured the moment Miami Gardens Police arrived outside a home where Jackson’s yellow train was parked in the yard.

Police told WPLG the people who live here agreed to give back the train and Jackson took it, no questions asked

Someone at the home said they had purchased the train from someone else and had no idea it was stolen.

“Wow. I really don’t buy that story. We’re just glad we got our train back. That’s all we wanted,” Jackson said in response. “Now we can call our kids back up this weekend and tell them, ‘Listen, your job is back on.”

Police say the case is closed because Jackson isn’t pressing charges.