A food truck builder who had become a symbol of the dangers of working in the mobile food industry was charged Thursday with fraudulently taking nearly $1 million from more than two dozen clients, according to a criminal complaint filed by the office. from the Stanislaus County District Attorney.
The complaint alleges that Fernando Ochoa Jáuregui, 28, owner of 8A Food Trucks, took about $993,000 from 28 customers, most of whom were working-class immigrants starting or expanding their businesses.
“The manner in which the crime was carried out indicated planning, sophistication or professionalism,” the complaint alleges.
Ochoa, who was arrested Tuesday in Modesto and held in county jail on $500,000 bail, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Thursday afternoon.
The builder's clients have accused him of not delivering the vehicles and refusing to return full or partial payments. Others have alleged that they received trucks and trailers so poorly constructed that they could not be used. And some have accused Ochoa of repossessing vehicles that had been purchased from him and his company.
In the courtroom, Ochoa sat quietly in handcuffs as the judge read the charges. Represented by a public defender, he answered yes or no questions with the help of a Spanish interpreter. His next court date is July 10.
The charges against Ochoa come two months after a Times report detailed the plight of his alleged victims. Disgruntled 8A Food Trucks customers from across California described working hard as cooks, janitors and construction workers, saving for years for the opportunity to start their own business, only to see their dreams dashed. Some said the alleged losses were especially painful because they came at the hands of one of their own: a Mexican immigrant who lived in the Central Valley and previously worked in an industrial shop.
Ochoa, who highlighted in Spanish his business skills and his penchant for parties. runs, denied many of the allegations in an interview in February. The flashy Corvette-driving builder acknowledged some mistakes, attributing them in part to his inexperience in business. He founded Ceres, California-based 8A Food Trucks in 2019.
“I am trying to deal with this scandal so I can improve my business again; I had a real company,” Ochoa said in February. “I'm not a business expert. I just know how to build trucks.”
Several clients included in the Times' February report were named in the complaint, which covers a period of about four years beginning in June 2020.
For Norma Estevez, a Salinas resident who paid $60,000 for two trailers of food she said she never received from Ochoa, news of his arrest brought a sense of relief.
“We have waited a long time for this day to come,” said Estévez, whose husband, Sebastián Delgado, is named in the complaint. “I'm very happy because…his arrest reaffirms what we've been saying all along.”
Estevez, who said he lost a lucrative contract to provide food to farmworkers after not receiving trailers, filed suit against Ochoa for breach of contract and other claims in July 2022. Months later, the parties reached a settlement that required Ochoa to pay Estevez and her husband about $70,000, including attorney fees, according to court documents.
He said Ochoa has paid only $30,000 and hopes the government will confiscate her assets and auction them off as a way to pay her and some of the other alleged victims.
“And if not, then I hope he goes to jail and stays there for all the emotional pain he caused us,” Estevez said.
Ochoa previously acknowledged that he did not meet the agreed deadline for the delivery of Estévez's trailers. “Norma's situation was that if she didn't receive the trailers by a certain date, then she wasn't going to need them,” she said.
The builder has appeared in the Spanish media as a warning to the food truck industry. A 2023 Univision report on Ochoa warned those entering the business to use extreme caution.
The controversy comes at a tense time for Southern California sellers. Several in the Los Angeles area were robbed by gunmen last summer in brazen attacks that highlight the risks of selling food on the streets of the Southland.
