News

12-year-old vending kiosk owner deals with theft

July 12, 2016

John Filo has already jumpstarted his career by purchasing a vending machine at the age of 12, which he placed at a garage owned by his parents in Etna, Pennsylvania. Business was going well, until a man began to steal cash from the vending kiosk, according to a report by Action News 4.

Filo noticed that there were no stores selling soft drinks in his neighborhood so he came up with the idea of purchasing a vending kiosk. His father, Joel Filo, gave his son a loan to help purchase the kiosk. "Once I start paying my product loan off, I'll start paying off the loan for the machine," the younger Filo said.

He was receiving a fair amount of cash until a man came by and robbed the kiosk. The Filo family installed a security camera and saw the man steal cash again. Police identified the man as Shawn Roche and are currently looking for him.

"I kind of felt upset — not so much about the money, but about John's disappointment about what happened to his money,"Joel Filo said.