Vandals Do Thousands In Damage To Rockland Couple's Charity Food Truck
PEARL RIVER, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Rockland County man is hoping the thieves who destroyed his food truck turn themselves in.
They caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to a truck that's used to do good in the community.
Ricardo Salazar told CBS2's Jessica Borg that the damage to his truck makes him cringe.
He bought the truck solely to serve food at charity events.
Vandals destroyed it; they stole the grill, propane tanks, boxes of tools, and smashed all of the windows.
"They hit it here, here, here, and put it through," he said.
Salazar and his wife bought the truck last year. It was an old hot dog truck that they spent several thousand dollars upgrading.
"We bought it. We restore it to bring it to events," he said.
All of those events are organized by charities like March of Dimes and Wounded Warriors.
The couple donates sandwiches. It's volunteer work they take pride in.
They leave the car parked overnight in a Pearl River parking lot.
Salazar runs the cafeterias in a nearby office building, and never had a problem until 2 weeks ago, when he found the truck broken into.
"They destroy things that are for the community," he said.
Folks like Allen Arellano are upset by it.
"That's terrible. Somebody has to do something about it," he said.
For now, the truck is stuck in that spot because the vandals bashed in the ignition barrel, so that Salazar can't start it.
"I'll be so happy if they bring these kids in and do community services for them to see that other people struggle.
Police are investigating, and the Salazars are trying to figure out how they'll fix their truck. They want it back where it belongs -- serving those in need.
Orangetown police are handling the investigation. They said there are no surveillance cameras in the parking lot.