Stolen smoker
A Northeast Philadelphia barbecue restaurant is offering a cash reward and a year’s worth of ribs to anyone who can find a two-ton smoker that thieves stole from behind the business last Friday morning.
The cooking machine belongs to Fat Jack’s BBQ at 10090 Roosevelt Blvd. and shouldn’t be hard to miss. It’s a stainless steel box that measures about 10 feet long, six feet wide and nine feet high sitting on a red single-axle trailer. It’s worth about $30,000 and had been parked and chained at the rear of the business for about six years, according to the owner, Glenn Gross.
Sometime between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Friday, someone brazenly pilfered the cooker. The culprits would’ve had to use a truck to tow the unit from the site in a strip mall just north of Red Lion Road. The owner reported the crime to police that day. On Monday, a witness told Gross that he saw a truck near the property around the time of the crime, but police are still vetting the tip, the owner said.
Gross asks that folks be on the lookout for the sizable stainless steel oven being towed down the street or parked in someone’s yard. Anyone who spots the unit should call 911 immediately. Tipsters with older information about the case may call the business directly at 215–613–7091. Gross is offering a $2,500 cash reward plus a free slab of ribs every week for a year to the person who finds and returns the smoker. ••
