Four people have been charged in connection with a home invasion that police say stemmed from a botched order for cheese fries.
Police say that when the owners of Moscato Pizza in Kirkland arrived at work Sunday to find the restaurant windows and entryway smeared with melted cheese, they took it upon themselves to punish the people they believed were responsible.
Police say the owners, carrying a baseball bat, forced themselves inside the home of a customer who had ordered dinner the night before. No one was seriously injured.
The spat began when an order of cheese fries from Moscato’s was delivered Saturday night without the sauce, police said.
The customers called to complain, but the Moscatos said the order had been for regular fries, Kirkland Police officer Alton Parker said. The restaurant eventually delivered two cups of cheese to the customer, he said, but there were several rounds of phone calls between the owners and the customers.
Parker said the department was called about 12:30 p.m. Sunday to Moscato Pizza, which is in the 500 block of West Main Street in Kirkland, by the owners. Two small cartons of melted cheese – the kind the restaurant uses on take-out orders to put cheese in for dipping – had been thrown on the glass door and the window to the left of the front door, Parker said.
But before the officer could get there, the owner of the restaurant, his wife, his daughter and his son-in-law all went down the street to the residence of the people they believed defaced the restaurant, Parker said.
“They went to discuss it with them, and they broke into the front of the apartment, banged the door in with a baseball bat and gained entry to the house,” Kirkland Police Chief Stanley Smith said.
Once inside, Jarrod Weaver and Gaetano Moscato began beating the male residents, according to court documents. A Kirkland police officer arrived while the victims and the Moscatos and Weavers were arguing back and forth, Smith said.
The victims were treated and released at the scene for minor injuries, Smith said.
“It was fortunate that it wasn’t worse than that,” he said. “It was a violent situation where nobody got hurt to terribly badly.”
Gaetano Moscato, 42, of the 5600 block of Carrol Court in Monroe Center, was charged with three counts of home invasion.
Jarrod R. Weaver, 25, was charged with two counts of home invasion. Court documents show him living at both the same address as Moscato as well as in the 500 block of West Main Street in Kirkland.
Pia Moscato, 43, and Maria Weaver, 23, were each charged with criminal trespass to a residence. Pia Moscato lives with her husband and Maria Weaver, who is the Moscato’s daughter, lives in the 500 block of West Main Street in Kirkland, according to court documents.
Home invasion is a Class X felony and is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Criminal trespass is a Class 4 felony and is punishable by up to 3 years in prison.
The vandalism to the restaurant is still under investigation, Parker said. He noted that police found the two cheese cups that were delivered to the customers in their residence, and that the two used in the vandalism were found outside of the restaurant.
Bail was set Tuesday at $50,000 each for Gaetano Moscato and Jarrod Weaver; both were still in the DeKalb County Jail as of Tuesday night and are both due back Thursday at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore to see if they have secured an attorney. Bail for Pia Moscato and Maria Weaver was set at $1,000 each and they are both due back in court March 24. Both women had posted bond by 6 p.m. Tuesday, according to jail officials.
