Thieves charged with stealing Stratford food truck

The owners of a Stratford restaurant were stunned when their food truck went missing. CTV’s Karis Mapp has more on the theft, and reaction to its return.

Stratford Police say two people have been charged for stealing a food truck and attempting to make off with a skid steer.

Virginia Robinson and her husband Sean are the owners of Annie’s Seafood Restaurant. They were stunned when their food truck went missing on Saturday morning, especially since they were planning to hit the road for the Stratford Live Music & Food Festival.

“Friday night, the truck was all loaded up. [We] got all the food ready for the weekend and plugged in to keep all the freezers cold,” recalled Robinson. “Saturday morning, we came in at 9 a.m., pulled in the parking lot and I said to my husband, ‘Where’s our food truck?’”

The couple immediately contacted police. They also handed over security video which showed two people inside a blue Ford pickup truck pulling up beside the food truck around 3:30 a.m. A man got out, broke into the food truck and drove away with it.

Police said the vehicle was abandoned on Road 111, just outside city limits, that same morning.

Robinson estimated $1,000 worth of food inside was spoiled, and another $500 in supplies were taken.

The food truck was then taken to a local autobody shop.

“The door lock itself was smashed off the vehicle,” said Brian Eric Elliott, owner of Elliot Motors. “The actual steering column was busted apart, that’s how they were able to hotwire it and get it running.”

Robinson said the couple was happy to have the food truck back, in any condition.

“We’re trying to get it at least mobile for the weekend,” she said, explaining that they had their own event planned. “There will be a few cosmetic things to clean up. The back doors were busted a bit, but we can address that later next week.”

Another theft and an arrest

It didn’t take long to catch the alleged suspects.

The day after the food truck was stolen, a robbery in progress was reported at a business on Griffith Road. The owner said he got a motion alert on his cellphone around 5:30 a.m. from his surveillance system.

When officers arrived, they discovered a male and female attempting to steal a skid steer. Both had arrived at the property in a blue Ford pickup truck, which was pulling a trailer. That trailer, police added, was later determined to be stolen.

Officers blocked the pickup truck to prevent the driver from fleeing the business. They said he assaulted an officer and had to be forcibly removed from the pickup.

“He continued to step on the accelerator, driving into the police cruisers that continued to block his attempts to flee,” police said in a media release. “The officers were quickly able to restrain the driver and turn the truck off. The female passenger turned herself over to police without incident.”

Joshua Davies, a 49-year-old from Hamilton, and Kimberly Ruttan, a 54-year-old from Hamilton, were charged with multiple counts of theft over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime and possession of break-in instruments.

Davies was also charged with resisting arrest, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, flight from police, four counts of operation of a conveyance while prohibited, two counts of breaching probation and assaulting a peace officer.