Oakland Park Business Robbed For Second Time In 7 Months
OAKLAND PARK – The owners of a family business in Oakland Park are offering a reward of five thousand dollars for the return of their expensive landscaping equipment.
Bobby Goss and his wife, Jaris, own G4orce Property Management. They maintain thousands of foreclosed properties throughout South Florida.
They say that sometime on Friday morning -- while Bobby was working as a firefighter for the Broward Sheriff's Office -- thieves stole their truck and trailer from their front yard. Inside, Goss says, was $35,000 worth of landscaping and repair equipment.
"It really, really hurts," he told CBS 4's Carey Codd. "It's two steps forward, one step back all the time because every time you feel you're getting ahead, you get knocked back down."
Goss said their truck -- with the engine still running -- and trailer were found in North Miami on Friday afternoon. The inside was cleaned out.
Jaris can't believe the thieves were able to pull off the crime with a sleeping family inside the house along with a guard dog and hundreds of dollars worth of locks on the trailer.
"They're just good," she said. "They're really good."
And this isn't the first time they've been robbed.
The couple says in April thieves pulled off a similar heist, stealing a trailer with more than $20,000 worth of equipment inside.
"We're not the only people too," said Bobby Goss. "That's one of the worst things about it. We have other friends in the business and they've been robbed multiple times and nobody's been caught."
The couple says they have insurance on the trailer but not the contents.
"The insurance for the equipment was too expensive," Bobby Goss said.
Goss has borrowed some equipment from friends for the time being but is unsure if he wants to continue the business.
"I'm afraid to buy more equipment because it's probably going to be stolen," he said.
Jaris says the business has been successful and they employ more than half a dozen people. However, she said the thefts have left the family in debt.
"I thought originally -- the first time -- it set us back...a little back," Jaris said. "Now, I think it turned things completely upside down."
