MANVILLE, N.J. (WSVN) — A New Jersey woman was the victim of bizarre crime involving some topping trouble.

Heather Dougherty said she was going about her morning earlier this week when she stepped outside to find pepperoni spread across her front porch and car.

“Who goes around two slabs of meat and a knife and cuts it up in the middle of the night and puts it all over somebody’s yard and car?” said Dougherty.

She immediately called police to file a report.

“I did look around and saw nobody else was hit,” she said. “An officer pulled up. I was in hysterics.”

The situation is certainly comical, but why?

“I’ve been here 16 years, and I’ve never been hit before,” said Dougherty.

But pepperoni was not the only form of vandalism. Dougherty’s car was also keyed on the driver’s side, and scratch marks were actually left on her car, after cats climbed up on top to get to the meat.

“While it was quite comical, and I do find humor in it, you know, you also vandalized,” said Dougherty.

As the investigation was underway, Dougherty started doing some investigative work herself, posting on social media.

“I made a post to [the Facebook groups] Manville People and Manville People with News, asking if any of the local pizzerias were missing any of their pepperoni inventory,” she said.

One pizza parlor just down the road had all of their pepperoni accounted for. The owner, Anthony Daniello is personally taking offense to the act.

“Who would want to waste such a precious commodity? In this business, there’s nothing more scared then some pepperoni,” said Daniello.

Daniello, just as much as her, wants answers.”Pepperoni, of all things – you know, you’ve got rotten tomatoes, right? That’s always been historically the thing to throw at houses but, yeah, I guess they chose the cured meat route,” he said.

Dougherty left a message for those who are thinking of doing something like this in the future.

“You are always on camera, number one. Number two, no matter what you do in life, whether good or bad, there is always a consequence.” she said.

Dougherty said there are possible pending charges in the works for these actions.

Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Join our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox