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BBQ food truck operator catches Jacksonville man accused of stealing, eating food for months

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A food truck operator said a crook broke in and ate her food for two months straight.

“He loved to eat, ribs, chicken, he was eating very good,” Jovette Williams said.

Issac Palmer, 24, might be smiling now, but he could be enjoying jail cuisine for a while.

“That’s what’s so frustrating about this to see him smiling about it. You’re not my child,” she said.

Williams said Palmer was breaking into her food truck, Smoke in the City BBQ, off University Boulevard every night they were open, Wednesday through Sunday, for two months.

“He would leave us his trays. He would fix a food tray and would leave it in the trash can for us to find the next day,” Williams said.

She said she lost about a $100 a week.

“It’s like he was using this as his own private restaurant and hotel,” she said.

Williams said she tried to catch the thief a couple of times, but couldn’t, until late Wednesday night. She and her husband spotted the man crawling out from the back door. Williams said she then pulled out her gun and yelled for the man to get on the ground.

“Get on the ground, get on the ground, stop what you’re doing, spread eagle,” Williams said.

She held him there until police got there. Williams said she and her husband are giving people, but not to crooks.

“It’s my stuff that I worked hard for that I have to replace,” she said.

And she hopes he enjoys his new dinner menu.

“I’m hoping they do him justice so he will get nice and fat in jail,” Williams said.