INUVIK - The Fruitman lost thousands of dollars in merchandise last week after someone tampered with his businesses' refrigeration system.

On Thursday, April 8, Bill Rutherford arrived at his transport truck trailer on Mackenzie Road, from which he sells his sought after fresh produce, only to find most of it frozen solid.

On April 8 Bill Rutherford, commonly known as the Fruitman, arrived at his trailer on Mackenzie Road to find much of his produce ruined as a result of someone tampering with his refrigeration system. Here he stands beside his business that afternoon with a sign offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photos

The trailer's unit which controls the temperature had been changed to -28 C from 5 C.

By the time Rutherford arrived the temperature inside the trailer had reached -2 C. Some items were salvageable.

The deed had been done after he closed shop at 7:30 p.m. the evening before.

"It will be in the thousands of dollars," Rutherford said about the amount of money he would lose.

Despite his anger, he stopped short of saying he was surprised by the sinister act.

"I'm not really surprised at anything anymore," he said. "Someone said to me today, 'I would feel real violated.' Well I felt that way the first time I was broken into."

He said his warehouse in town was broken into three times. But, he admits, this incident is a new low in more than 20 years on the job.

Rutherford reported the incident to the police immediately. He's offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible. He suspects whoever's responsible has some knowledge of how the trailer's refrigeration system works.

Cpl. Kent Pike of the Inuvik RCMP said the incident is under investigation. But, as of Monday, the police have no evidence or witnesses to work with.

Pike said he's surprised Rutherford hadn't endured such an incident earlier.

Rutherford spent the day trying to preserve some of the frozen produce while informing a steady stream of customers of the bad news.

One of them was Wayne Patrie, a regular customer of Rutherford's, who had a hard time making sense of the incident.

"I'm in shock that anybody would do this," he said. "It's unconscionable.

"He provides a service you just can't get any other way. It's a big loss for this whole area."

It's not just Inuvik customers that are out of luck. On Friday Rutherford headed out to Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik with only a fraction of what he normally brings to those communities.

He won't be back in Inuvik until mid-June, after the Dempster Highway reopens.

Rutherford travels thousands of kilometres to Vancouver from Inuvik to purchase the goods he sells to people in Inuvik and the surrounding area.

"A lot of people don't realize the work involved," he said. "It takes a good eight hours from when I park the trailer here until I'm able to open. I have to put all my shelving up and price everything."

He said he'll have to find a way to secure the refrigeration system. Even then he said that might not do any good.

"Some guys get up in the morning with the intent of doing good," he said. "Others keep the RCMP and the courts occupied."