A San Diego vegan food truck vendor who collected about $100,000 in donation money after fire destroyed the vehicle was found guilty this week of arson, insurance fraud and grand theft.
Avonte Hartsfield, who represented himself at trial, faces more than seven years in custody when he is sentenced in San Diego Superior Court in March, according to Deputy District Attorney Judy Taschner.
Hartsfield, 27, maintained his innocence, telling the jury he was at home when the fire started, and that statements he made to police putting himself at the scene were false confessions.
Hartsfield’s Rollin Roots truck caught fire in a parking lot off Amour Street in Kearny Mesa shortly before 1 a.m. Oct. 3, 2021. The vehicle was a total loss.
He turned to social media and GoFundMe, and community support rolled in, including a $20,000 donation from the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.
At the time, Hartsfield told the Union-Tribune and other news outlets his truck and office had been hit by break-ins, vandalism and theft shortly before the fire. He also said he found what he believed to be a noose. Hartsfield, who is Black, raised the specter he had been the target of a hate crime.
Police investigators found surveillance video from a nearby business that led them to suspect Hartsfield. The images showed a barefoot man with his face covered approaching the truck, which was out of frame. The man later came back into frame, headed in the opposite direction. And where he had been, there was a flash of light, which quickly intensified.
Surveillance video caught a car matching Hartsfield’s in the area before and after the fire.
Investigators also found fire-related searches on his Google account — including “quick car explosion” — about a week before the fire.
In subsequent phone calls with investigators, Hartsfield said he was the man seen on video but he had not set the fire. He also said a rice cooker had sparked and caused the fire.
Taschner said police investigated the allegations of break-ins and vandalism before the fire but found no evidence of such. She also said a fire investigator found the science didn’t support the theory that the rice cooker was to blame.
In his closing argument to the jury earlier this week, Hartsfield said his statements to police were the product of a coerced and false confession.
Hartsfield argued the surveillance footage only showed one portion of the area, and he accused investigators of having “tunnel vision,” zeroing in on him and failing to investigate other potential suspects.
“They had their guy and they were going to make sure of it, no matter what,” he told the jury.
Hartsfield had been out of custody in the run up to the trial. He was arrested and jailed Feb. 10, although it was not immediately clear why. After the verdict, Judge Kimberlee Lagotta ordered him to remain in custody without bail.
The jury got the case late Wednesday morning and returned with a verdict by mid-afternoon that day.
City News Service contributed to this story.
