This Skate Kids trailer was stolen from George's Greek Cafe at Lakewood mall on Nov. 28, 2018 shortly after 6:30 p.m. Photo courtesy of Kurtis Colamonico.

Editor’s note: The trailer has been located, read the updated story here

A thief on Wednesday stole a trailer from a parking lot at Lakewood Mall that contained a mobile skate park for kids.

Skate Kids, which has been running in Long Beach for about four years, serves about 70 kids each week through skateboarding lessons, camps, after school programs and group lessons. Former pro-skater and Long Beach native Kurtis Colamonico started the business after his son was born and it quickly grew.

On Wednesday, Colamonico parked his SUV with the trailer attached through two adjoined parking spots at the Lakewood mall around 6 p.m. He was stopping to get a bite to eat and get some work done at George’s Greek Cafe.

When he left the restaurant around 6:50 p.m., his trailer was gone.

“It almost made me second guess myself, thinking maybe I brought it home,” Colamonico said.

He immediately called the Sheriffs Department and asked the restaurant if any of their security cameras showed the theft. All of their cameras point at the restaurant rather than the parking lot, so they didn’t catch anything.

The trailer is 6-by-10 feet and white with photos of kids on skateboards and ramps and the Skate Kids logo on the sides.

In this file photo from Sept. 1, 2018, Kurtis Colamonico (right) teaches 12-year-old London White how to pump while ridding half pipe during Skate Kids. Photo by Drew A. Kelley.

Colamonico said the thieves must have had to pick up the heavy trailer and roll it out of the parking spot by hand before they could have attached it to their vehicle.

One family at the restaurant told him that they noticed the trailer still in the parking spot around 6:30 p.m. because they were admiring it on their way in to get dinner, so it would have been stolen in a small 20-minute time period.

Colamonico and his friends have been posting about the missing trailer on Facebook and social media, desperately asking Lakewood and Long Beach residents to keep an eye out.

“There’s a whole mobile skate park in there—all stuff for the kids,” he said.

He estimates that the trailer is worth about $3,000 and the equipment inside is worth about $7,000.

“I’m trying to get my head around it, what do they think they’re going to do with it?” he said, adding that the skate park equipment is specially designed for kids and would be hard to sell.

While he was waiting for a sheriff’s deputy to come take a report, Colamonico started calling around to make sure he could still teach the rest of the week’s lessons.

“I thought, ‘These kids are going to be so bummed,'” Colamonico said.

In this file photo from Sept. 1, 2018, Kurtis Colamonico teaches 7-year-old Alice Li how to turn while ridding a skateboard. Photo by Drew A. Kelley.

Luckily for the kids, Keen Ramps is loaning Skate Kids ramps and DarkStar skateboards is providing the business with skateboards to use for the lessons.

So far, the only lead Colamonico has is a friend of a friend telling him on Facebook that they saw the trailer around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday night going down Graywood Avenue. They remembered the trailer because they saw it wasn’t attached properly, causing the fender to drag and threatening to cause a flat tire.

If you see the trailer, please report it to the Lakewood Sheriff’s Department at 562-623-3500 and ask for Detective Doke or Detective Gallegos.

Valerie Osier is the Social Media & Newsletter Manager for the Long Beach Post. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ValerieOsier