Social media helps catch man suspected of food truck theft
Sep 11, 2019, 4:46 PM | Updated: Dec 30, 2022, 11:27 am
A thief helps unhook a generator from The Cluck Truck in South Salt Lake over Labor Day weekend. One of the suspects was caught yesterday after a social media post went viral, leading to several tips. Photo: The Cluck Truck Facebook Page.
SOUTH SALT LAKE – A man has been arrested for stealing a generator that was welded onto the back of The Cluck Truck, a popular local food truck.
The truck was parked on Main Street near 3300 South over Labor Day weekend when security cameras caught several people cutting off the generator.
The Cluck Truck co-owner Gentry Davies decided to post the footage on their Facebook page.
“I figured, we’ll put it out there. If it helps, it helps. But within 25 minutes of it being posted, somebody was calling us and telling us, ‘This is their names, this is where they live,'” Davies says.
People were also able to make out the license plate number of the getaway car.
That information was forwarded to South Salt Lake Police.
Davies’s husband and Cluck Truck co-owner, Phillip Rodriguez, was also surprised by the response.
About 20,000 views just on Facebook, about 200 shares. The community really came together.” Rodriguez says.
Tips also flooded in on Instagram.
One of the suspects, 48-year-old Jesse Massarella, was arrested during a traffic stop on Tuesday afternoon in Salt Lake City. Another food truck told Davies and Rodriguez about the arrest.
Massarella, who was on probation at the time, was taken in for second-degree felony theft.
South Salt Lake Police are looking for the other suspects.
