A Carle Place restaurant owner can finally celebrate after more than $60,000 of stolen kitchen equipment was finally found.

East Coast Street Tacos co-owner John Martini says Nassau police arrested the tenant who leased the space before him, Mohamed Assaedi, with two charges related to the stolen equipment.

"It just feels great to get it back. It's really a miracle,” he said.

Martini says he noticed the equipment was missing in August 2024 when he went to the store, which is still under construction, to grab something. The doors to the store were locked, but something was off.

"I walked in and everything was gone,” he said.

The grill, a fryer, refrigerators, tables and much more – all vanished. He had a feeling the previous tenant, Assaedi, may have been behind it since the doors were locked and there were no signs of forced entry.

When Assaedi opened a new Wantagh store, Martini decided to check it out.

"Last week I went there, he wasn't there, but the workers were there and the door was open,” he said. “So I decided to go in to see if the equipment was there. I saw it, called the detective."

More than a dozen Nassau police officers carried out a search warrant at the new store, Posh Deli, Monday night and found just about all the missing equipment.

Assaedi was arraigned Tuesday on burglary and criminal possession of stolen property charges.

"We were just ready to give up, and now it's like…I got this fire in me," said Martini.

Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder says serial numbers on the equipment helped them confirm it was stolen. He says it’s an important reminder for buyers to always make sure you know who the seller of an item is.

"They all have serial numbers,” said Ryder. “Run them, because when we take in a stolen item, and we put it into our system, it's in there. So if somebody else runs that serial number, it will hit saying that's a stolen item."

Assaedi did not enter a plea Tuesday. He’s due back in court on Feb. 13.

As for the store, Martini says it’ll be some time before they start serving up tacos.

"We wanted to be open last year, but we're not going to be open probably for another five, six months,” he said.

Martini and the other store owners started a fundraiser to help them be able to finally open their doors. They set up a GoFundMe to help them raise enough money to be able to finally open.