A California businessman whose vegan food truck was destroyed in a blaze was convicted 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.
On Wednesday, a San Diego jury found Avonte Hartsfield guilty of setting his Rollin Roots food truck ablaze on Oct. 3, 2021. He faces up to seven years and four months in prison at sentencing, currently set for next month.
Following the fire, Hartsfield raised around $100,000 through a GoFundMe campaign in which he said he was a target of hate crimes. The 27-year-old also received more than $235,000 from his insurance company, prosecutors said, and a $20,000 donation from the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation shortly after the fire.
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Hartsfield told police that in the days leading up to the fire, his truck and office had been broken into multiple times and some of his equipment had been vandalized. He also said he found a makeshift noose hanging in his office.
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.
The food truck is not visible in the footage, but a man whom police say was Hartsfield is seen walking in the direction of the truck. A short time later, the same man is seen walking away from the truck and flickering lights can be seen from the area where the truck was parked.
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A car resembling Hartsfield's personal vehicle can be seen arriving at the scene and leaving soon after the time of the fire, police said.
Hartsfield initially told police he had parked the truck outside his office on the night of the fire, went home, then found the truck burned down the following day.
In a phone conversation between Hartsfield and SDPD detective John Clayton that took place about six months after the fire, the detective told Hartsfield that because of the surveillance footage, police knew he was there at the scene of the fire.
Hartsfield explained that he had gone back to the office to check on things due to the recent break-ins, but didn't see anyone there and left before the fire began.
Hartsfield later revised his account, telling Clayton that while there, a man armed with a gun threatened him, prompting him to run and head home.
After Clayton told him that he didn't believe the gunman story, Hartsfield said the fire was actually started by a rice cooker he left on in the truck. When the rice cooker sparked the fire, Hartsfield said, he panicked and left.
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.
Taschner told jurors that a fire investigation determined the fire could not have been started by the rice cooker as described.
She also said Hartsfield made a series of internet searches leading up to the fire that included car explosions and other searches involving burning items.
Hartsfield, who represented himself in the case, denied setting the blaze in his closing arguments to the jury and said his statements in the phone conversation with Clayton were the product of a coerced and false confession.
Hartsfield maintained that he was at home at the time the fire was set and denied being the man prosecutors said was him in the surveillance footage. He also argued the surveillance footage only showed one portion of the area and that other potential suspects not visible in the footage may have set the fire.
Hartsfield also accused investigators of having "tunnel vision" in maintaining he was the suspect and failing to investigate other potential perpetrators, such as the people he says had been breaking into his truck.
"They had their guy and they were going to make sure of it, no matter what," Hartsfield said.
A San Diego County food truck operator who received more than $100,000 in donations after his truck burned to the ground is now being charged with arson.
Hartsfield told NBC San Diego in November 2022 that “I'm very much looking forward to going to court." We first spoke with Hartsfield in October 2021 after his food truck burned.
“This is something that's a completely different level,” he said at the time in reference to the noose he allegedly found.
In March 2022, Hartfield posted on the fundraiser page that he learned the fire was not arson or vandalism but was caused by an electrical mishap, and he offered refunds to donors.
“I corrected the information … some people collected their money back,” he said. “But I’m pretty transparent, so I set the record straight when I need to.”
