Food truck in East Austin broken into 15 times, owner says

AUSTIN, Texas - A food truck owner is frustrated after he says his truck has been broken into 15 times.

Boteco Food Truck has called East Austin home for a majority of its time selling Brazilian street food since 2014.

"I wanted to bring that same culture into Austin. There was nothing like it at the time and it was really well accepted by the community," said owner Fernando Marri.

Marri says he came from Brazil to give Austin a taste of his favorite foods from home, but he admits the journey has not been easy. "Throughout the past four years, especially in the past year and a half, we started observing a trend of crimes," said Marri.

His food truck was recently burglarized Wednesday night. "They got through the window, took a couple of tablets, some chargers, and then they spilled oil all over the truck," he said.

Unfortunately, this was not the first time the Boteco Food Truck has been robbed. "We've been robbed 15 times in these past years that we've been open," said Marri.

He says he has tried everything to try and prevent these types of incidents from happening, like putting up cameras and not taking cash from customers, but still it seems to continue.

"It's pretty frustrating for us," said Marri.

He also says Austin police have not been very helpful either.

"When we try to get in contact with APD, we usually can't call 911 because it's not an emergency, so they direct us to 311, and we're told that a detective will contact us, but they never do," he said.

For now, Marri says it is not a matter of if another burglary will happen, it is a matter of when, a mentality he does not like to have, but it has become his new reality.