Community rallies around lemonade stand after robbery
Jun 29, 2022, 6:01 PM
Some Tacoma girls were making big bucks at their lemonade stand — until a robber stole their profits.
On Sunday, Grace DeWitt reported to Tacoma Police that a young man had stolen $80 from her daughters and nieces’ lemonade stand set up outside their house on Northpoint Way.
The stand was run by four girls: 13-year-old Leah Sleeper, 10-year-old Zaylani Juarez, and 6-year-olds Layla DeWitt and Gabriela Sleeper.
According to DeWitt, the suspected robber stopped by once before the robbery and told the girls he forgot to bring cash. When he came back, he asked for a cup of lemonade. Instead, he stuck his hand in the register and pulled out the girls’ hard-earned money.
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Zaylani says a man took their cash and drove away in a blue SUV.
“It made me super mad because he did it with a huge smile on his face and ran off giggling to his car,” Zaylani said.
The local community has since come together for the kids, supporting their stand enough that they were even able to buy a snow cone machine for their burgeoning business.
The girls had some tough words for the thief out there.
It was super rude of you to do that because we’re just kids we didn’t do anything to you that would make you want to rob us,” Zaylani said.
