Owner of unique Phoenix taco bus arrested. What to know

El Taco Loko brought its menu to the Valley via a West Valley restaurant, a food trailer and a unique taco bus. That was until July 8, when the company’s owner, Blademir Angulo Audeves, was arrested.

Audeves, 42, was charged by criminal complaint for Harboring of an Illegal Alien, Knowingly Employing Unauthorized Aliens, Improper Entry by an Alien and Alien in Possession of a Firearm, according to the United States Attorney’s Office District of Arizona.

Homeland Security Investigations started looking into Audeves in March, a news release from the office shared. HSI investigated allegations that Audeves employed undocumented workers at his taco business and last week found at least 12 employees without legal documentation. Two of the people found, plus Audeves, were noted to have illegally entered the U.S. previously and re-entered.

Some of the workers were living at Audeves’ house in Laveen, along with another house on 16th Avenue, according to the Attorney’s Office.

Audeves ran the El Taco Loko business with his wife and son. The company included a brick-and-mortar restaurant on the southeast corner of Indian School Road and 67th Avenue in west Phoenix, a food trailer that set up at 55th Avenue and Baseline Road in Laveen and a retrofitted 2007 Blue Bird All American Diesel bus that parked at Sarival Avenue and Yuma Road in Goodyear.

Audeves bought the bus in Denver, his son told Phoenix New Times in 2024, and took a year to transform it into one of the Valley’s most unique mobile food vendors. Customers could order their tacos to go or take a seat inside the bus to eat.

A friend who helped manage the business said Audeves started working at the original El Taco Loco in Tijuana, Mexico, when he was 14 years old. After coming to Arizona and working in construction and buying and selling cars, Audeves saved enough money to launch his own taco business.

Along with its eye-catching taco bus, the business was known for its carne asada, tripas, quesabirria and birria ramen.

On July 8, HSI executed a warrant and searched Audeves’ home and the other 16th Avenue house along with the three El Taco Loko locations. They arrested Audeves and found “several Mexican citizens without legal permission to be in the United States,” the Attorney's Office stated.

Some of the El Taco Loko workers were living in trailers parked at Audeves’ home, and were paying him rent, they said in interviews summarized in the indictment.

In those interviews, some of Audeves' employees also said he helped them gain entry to the U.S., either by loaning them money to pay smugglers or by arranging the transport himself. Some employees said they worked at El Taco Loko once they reached Phoenix to pay Audeves back for those loans. No one has yet faced charges related to these accusations.

While searching Audeves’ house, HSI found three firearms and “hundreds of rounds” of ammo in the main bedroom. The government said Audeves explained that one rifle was for coyotes and the other two guns were gifts.

On July 9, the day after the arrest, El Taco Loko’s brick-and-mortar restaurant remained locked, 12News reported, and the food trailer was missing from its Laveen spot.

The restaurant’s website remains live. The business phone line has been disconnected.