Exclusive: Thieves Ride Away With $200,000 Worth Of Bikes From Pompano Beach Shop
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POMPANO BEACH (CBSMiami) – A peloton of thieves struck a Pompano Beach shop overnight, riding away with nearly $200,000 worth of carbon bicycles.
"They knew exactly where they were coming," said Tom Stradalli of Stradalli Cycle.
Surveillance cameras captured the burglary from start to finish.
"They pulled up with a pickup truck, a dark colored pickup truck, a white minivan," Stradalli explained.
They first showed up to case the place located at Cypress Creek and Andrews Ave. at about 10:50 Sunday night in the two vehicles, a dark pickup truck and a white van.
Moments later, a truck loaded with roofing materials appeared and dumped the roofing material in the parking lot nearby. The truck followed that up by getting into position for the heist.
At the same time, a couple guys look like they're trying to steal a few more trucks.
Four guys used a five-foot crowbar to break get the back door open – and it took a lot of work.
"We have three different locks on the door and they broke all three of them," Stradalli said. "They ripped up the deadbolt completely out."
After prying the door open, about eight to nine guys raced into the shop. They pulled out one bike after another.
Once outside, they chucked bikes into the truck – each worth $2,000-$3,000 up to $12,000.
"It was crazy wild work, but at the same time it was idiots, there was no planning with it," Stradalli said.
These guys were there for about 20 minutes total, but it only took two minutes to grab up to 60 bikes and take off.
Stradalli figures someone staked out the place beforehand.
He said one of the guys caught on cam looks like someone who came in a few days earlier. He said that man was browsing around, saying he was looking for a bicycle for his son. What seemed odd is that these bikes are not for casual riders, they're for professionals.
Stradalli says thievery is no way to live your life.
"I came from Germany with $180 20 years ago. I worked my way up, learned English, did the right thing," he said. "And you have eight of these (expletive) coming and just taking anything this is like the Wild West here."
