A San Diego jury found Avonte Hartsfield guilty of setting his Rollin Roots food truck ablaze on Oct. 3, 2021
A businessman whose food truck was destroyed in a Kearny Mesa blaze was convicted this week of arson, insurance fraud and grand theft charges, with prosecutors alleging he set the fire in order to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance money and donations.
Deputy District Attorney Judy Taschner told jurors that surveillance footage from a business near Hartsfield's office placed him at the scene just before the fire broke out. A local businessman who received more than $100,000 from donors after his food truck burned has been charged with arson, reports NBC 7's Rory Devine.
When asked why he didn't initially explain about the rice cooker, Hartsfield said the people who had been targeting his business would have set the truck ablaze at some point regardless, but he'd hoped the truck fire might spur police to investigate the break-ins and other incidents he said actually occurred.
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