PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA — Two cargo thefts hit Philadelphia in the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 16 — four masked men broke into a refrigerated semi and made off with Black Angus beef ribs in South Philadelphia, and a Krispy Kreme box truck was stolen while its driver was making a delivery stop in Frankford.
The beef theft happened around 1 a.m. outside Ritter Foods on the 3300 block of South Third Street. Four masked suspects approached a 2026 Freightliner, cut the hinges off the rear trailer door to gain access, and removed approximately half a pallet of Black Angus beef ribs. They loaded the meat into a dark-colored Ford F-150 and fled south on South Third Street accompanied by a Jeep. The truck driver was not inside the vehicle at the time. No arrests have been made.
Around 5 a.m., a white 2023 GMC Krispy Kreme box truck was stolen from the parking lot of a Royal Farms gas station on the 2500 block of Church Street while the driver was inside making a delivery. The driver tracked the truck to the 1300 block of East Erie Avenue in Kensington. Police located and recovered the vehicle. An unknown quantity of donuts and an iPhone were stolen. No arrests have been made.
The beef theft is the latest in a pattern of cargo thefts from Philadelphia-area trucks stretching back years. In November 2025 frozen meat was stolen from a trailer near Northeast Philadelphia Airport. In July 2025 more than 40 boxes of meat were taken from a truck in Bustleton while the driver was inside. In 2024 dozens of pounds of salmon and cod were stolen from a refrigerated truck and pallets of crab meat worth an estimated $42,000 were taken from a South Philadelphia trailer.
Both incidents remain under investigation.
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