Modesto nonprofit founder robbed at fireworks stand fundraiser
Laptops, iPads and a trailer full of fireworks are among the items still missing after the founder of a local nonprofit was robbed July 3 while setting up the organization’s fireworks stand.
Relief, Inc., founder Phebe Dennis-Fortt said she estimates more than $60,000 worth of property was taken when a man and woman stole her 2006 Lexus SUV and a trailer full of fireworks. She said the man attacked her leading up to the theft, fracturing her wrist and injuring her shoulder in the process.
The SUV, which was covered in decals advertising for the nonprofit, has since been recovered. Nothing else is back.
The fireworks stand was being used to raise money for Relief, Inc., which focuses on providing for local and global communities, including feeding homeless populations around the Modesto area and supporting Dennis-Fortt’s home country of Liberia.
“Since COVID, that’s the only income we have, we don’t have anybody donating money to us and stuff like that,” Dennis-Fortt said. “It means a lot to us to be able to have that booth running.”
Dennis-Fortt said she had arrived around 8:50 a.m. at the fireworks stand, near the corner of Prescott Road and Plaza Way, to begin setup for the day. She hooked up a generator and took a few items, including her purse and a cash box, into the booth.
As she unloaded her SUV, a woman stopped Dennis-Fortt and asked what time the booth opened. When Dennis-Fortt told her it wouldn’t open until 10 a.m., the woman walked away and pulled her vehicle into a parking spot.
Dennis-Fortt said she assumed the woman was going to wait out the hour in the parking lot and continued working until someone attacked her from behind.
Dennis-Fortt was able to turn around and struggled with a man in a black hooded jacket. She said she was primarily focused on finding something to use as a weapon to stop the attack and didn’t realize he was going after the SUV keys she was holding.
“I fought him until he got the keys out of my hand,” Dennis-Fortt said.
After the man grabbed the SUV keys, he jumped into the driver’s seat and took off, Dennis-Fortt said. The woman who had parked near the stand drove off with him.
Dennis-Fortt was yelling for help, and she found out later a woman driving by called 911. A police officer arrived and took a report.
The Modesto Police Department investigating
Modesto Police Department spokesperson Sharon Bear confirmed the department is investigating the case.
Ron Fortt Sr., Dennis-Fortt’s husband, said the family used apps to track down the iPads, which showed the thieves stopped at a Lathrop travel center for gas. He hopes video from the travel center can help police in their investigation, especially since there wasn’t much to be found from footage at businesses around the fireworks stand.
“I’m rather hopeful they’re going to be able to get some ID, either the license plate on the chase car or some other information,” Fortt said.
On Friday, Dennis-Fortt and her husband learned their Lexus has been recovered in the Oakland area. Their personalized license plates, which said FORTT 1, had been taken off the vehicle.
The couple said they are not sure when the SUV will be returned to them since it needs to be processed for fingerprints and other possible evidence.
In all, Dennis-Fortt can do is wait – for news of the other items, for a possible identification on the people who stole from her, for her wrist and shoulder to heal from the attack.
“It just got me all messed up in my head where I go out, all I’m looking for is the lady’s truck on the street,” Dennis-Fortt said. “I haven’t had any good night’s sleep since then because I wake up and it’s all this stuff is going on.”
This story was originally published July 11, 2021 at 7:30 AM.
