Call it repeated repeating, or serial spit-up.
It would appear that a Markham restaurant has finally solved the case of who has been vandalizing cars in their rear lot in what police call a “bizarre” fashion.
More than 30 times over the past four years, staff and even some customers at Frankie Tomatto’s on Woodbine Avenue, near Steeles Avenue have reported coming out of the Italian-themed restaurant to find their cars doused with traces of an oily liquid. In each case this had happened between the hours of noon and 2:00 pm.
Management at the restaurant installed surveillance cameras in the rear lot and noticed what appeared to be a man vomiting onto vehicles in the lot, but the cameras were not clear enough to make out the characters on the license plate of the vehicle the suspect was driving.
The installation of new, higher-quality cameras fixed that problem though, and after a newer video was submitted to them, York Regional Police were able to arrest a suspect late Friday afternoon.
“We’ve laid charges of mischief against a man from Oshawa in connection,” said Const. Laura Nicolle.
“It does look like there is some element of this being intentional, where he’s actually intentionally vomiting on the vehicles.”
Police said the man, who is in his mid-40s, works in the area. They are not releasing his identity at this time.
Management at Frankie Tomatto’s did not want to do any interviews or release the surveillance tapes to reporters.
They said their camera footage does not show the accused going into the restaurant at any point and that they’re just happy the incident appears to be resolved.