San Diego food truck vendor sentenced to more than 5 years in prison for arson and fraud [The San Diego Union-Tribune]

A San Diego food truck vendor who authorities said burned down the vehicle to collect insurance and donation money was sentenced Wednesday to more than five years in state prison.

Avonte Hartsfield, who represented himself at trial, was convicted by a San Diego Superior Court jury in February of arson, insurance fraud and grand theft in connection to his food truck, Rollin Roots, which caught fire in a Kearny Mesa parking lot over two years ago.

Hartsfield maintained his innocence during the sentencing hearing. He argued that Deputy District Attorney Judy Taschner failed to put him at the scene of the crime, and he denied he committed fraud when he received more than $300,000 in donations and insurance money after the fire.

"I do understand that the prosecution and the court would like to see an acceptance of responsibility," Hartsfield said, later adding, "But as I stated throughout the entirety of the trial, I maintain my innocence."

Hartsfield's lack of accountability was one of the motivations for the prosecutor asking Judge Kimberlee Lagotta to sentence him to five years and four months in jail and to order him to pay back his victims.

"There is no one in this case to blame but himself, and he made it worse by snowballing the lies," Taschner argued.

Lagotta sided with the prosecution, saying before she handed down her judgment that Hartsfield carried out his crimes with "planning, sophistication and professionalism," and that he showed no remorse.

"It's clear that the defendant planned the arson, he burned down his truck in the middle of the night," Lagotta said.

She said Hartsfield "preyed upon the vulnerable and good nature of our community in stealing over $300,000 from various community members who contributed based upon his fraudulent representations."

The case against Hartsfield began shortly after his truck burned down in a parking lot on Amour Street on Oct. 3, 2021. The vehicle was a total loss.

To rebuild his business, Hartsfield turned to social media and GoFundMe. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance money and donations from the community, including a $20,000 donation from the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, began rolling in.

Hartsfield's story gained media attention after he said his van had been the target of multiple break-ins before the fire and claimed that he had found a noose in his office. Hartsfield, who is Black, said he believed the fire was a hate crime.

Police investigators, however, found surveillance video linking Hartsfield to the fire, including footage showing a car matching Hartsfield's in the area before and after the fire. Detectives also saw searches on his Google account — including "quick car explosion" — about a week before the fire.

In later phone calls with investigators, Hartsfield told investigators he was the man seen in the video but that he had not set the blaze. He 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 year, Hartsfield said his statements to police were the product of a coerced and false confession.

His restitution hearing is scheduled for April 22.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.

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