Stolen WiLDWiCH food truck returned to Wilmington after morning in Philadelphia

The WiLDWiCH food truck that was stolen from a downtown Wilmington parking lot early Friday, then spotted on social media photographs in Philadelphia, has been returned.

A person contacted WiLDWiCH to tell them they had purchased the truck in Philadelphia not knowing it had been stolen. But when they read about the theft on social media, they decided to return it.

"The keys were still in the ignition," Sgt. Stephanie Castellani, a Wilmington police spokeswoman, said about the recovered truck. 

The slightly damaged truck was recovered at 10th and Wilson streets, a few blocks from where it was taken, about 1:45 p.m. Friday. The person who returned the mobile eatery, however, was nowhere to be found. 

Fans of the large orange truck had been following its vanishing since Friday morning, when postings on social media showed two young men in the stolen truck wearing WiLDWiCH shirts. The men were reportedly passing out shirts Friday morning in Philadelphia. 

"They're passing out free T-shirts to pretty girls, and one of them posted it on one of the social medias," WiLDWiCH's owner, Mike Stanley, said earlier on Friday. "It's the craziest thing."

Stanley said he discovered the theft about 8 a.m.

Wilmington police confirmed the truck was taken about 6:05 a.m. Friday from the 10th and Jefferson streets lot in which it's usually parked. Three men on bikes approached the truck, broke a window, then entered the vehicle. 

"I guess once they found our backup set of keys in the truck, they loaded their bikes onto the truck and drove off," Stanley said. 

Stanley, who was preparing to cater the Delaware State Bar Association's luncheon on Friday, said he usually leaves backup keys in the truck for the back window. He added that the truck had previously been broken into, but never stolen before. 

"I get to feel dumb," he said. 

FOOD TRUCKS:

Delaware food trucks add spinoff brick-and-mortar sites

Late-night food trucks, carts try Trolley Square again

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3. Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).