NEDERLAND, Texas — A 12-year-old and 15-year-old are accused of stealing a car, that had a wedding cake inside, in front of a Nederland bakery Saturday.
"You never think it will happen to you…until it does," Anita Nguyen, co-owner of Golden Croissant in Nederland, said in a Sunday morning Facebook post. "My car was stolen yesterday right in front of our bakery, and along with it, the wedding cake I was ready to deliver."
The theft was caught on camera. In the video viewed by 12News, Nguyen can be seen putting a wedding cake in the back of a white car.
"I’m loading up my wedding cake to head out to the venue," Nguyen posted. "It's in an insulated box, but I have to keep the car AC on to keep things cool. I run inside for one minute to grab my water."
The video then shows two suspects standing near the car. They are seen looking around for a few seconds and then getting into the vehicle.
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Nguyen can be heard off-camera saying, "Hey, get out." She is then seen grabbing onto the passenger side door handle saying, "Get out of my car," as the suspects drive off in her vehicle.
According to the timeline of events Nguyen posted on social media, the theft took place about a minute after she stepped away from the car to get water.
"The kids take off with the car as I’m walking out," Nguyen posted. "My phone was also in the car, which they ditch nearby in the street."
Nguyen said officers from the Nederland Police Department rushed to the scene. Port Arthur police later found her car with the cake box still inside around 4 p.m., according to Nguyen.
"We finally were able to get to the car and see how the cake looked," Nguyen posted. "It was completely toppled over and an absolute mess."
Nguyen salvaged what she could and put together at least three tiers for the wedding. She was able to show up to the event with a "pretty decent cake" despite the incident.
"Almost would’ve never known it was stolen," Nguyen posted.
Nguyen said the suspects ran off but were eventually caught on foot. She thanked the Nederland Police Department and the Port Arthur Police Department for their help.
The identity of the suspects have not been released. However, Port Arthur Police Chief Tim Duriso told 12News that one of the suspects is 12, the other is 15 and this is the second time they have been accused of stealing a vehicle.
Both are charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, according to Duriso
Madison Elmore didn't realize that her wedding day would turn into a huge group recovery effort to save her cake.
"How am I going to remember how to remember my vows with all of this going on. That was all that was in my brain," Elmore said.
Courtney Revia is the owner of 7 Oaks Event Garden in Beaumont, where Madison and Sage got married.
Revia contacted Katherine Carmichael of Katherine and Company, who was already in route to help her do a few things at the venue, and told her what had happened.
As Revia was networking around to come up with a plan, Elmore shared the news with her groom.
"I was like hey guess what happened to our cake and he was like no way, so that's why everybody was so hush hush around me. Whenever people were like do you know about the cake and he was like no what about it and they were like nevermind," Elmore said.
Wedding Planner Jennifer bought seven white sheet cakes from HEB and got them decorated and delivered to the venue by 4 p.m.
"I know Courtney and Jennifer are going to take care of it so i'm not really worried about it, so if that's all that going to happen today, then that's the least of my worries," Elmore said.
To Elmore's surprise, Nguyen salvaged enough of the stolen cake for nice photos for the wedding.
"She fixed what was demolished and it was beautiful. So, I had 2 cakes, and sheet cake, and there was plenty of cake to go around."
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