COOPER CITY, FLA. (WSVN) - Deputies are investigating after a trailer was stolen outside of a Cooper City church.
Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives were called to the Square Root Church in the area of Flamingo Road and Southwest 53rd Street over the weekend.
“We pull up on property at 7 a.m., and there’s nothing,” said Pastor Daniel Rios. “We put three-and-a-half years into building to where we are right now, and it was driven off in 10 minutes.”
Rios said equipment needed to operate – like musical equipment, children ministry items and chairs – were inside the trailer.
“Our ministry style is getting back to the basics, back to the basics of what we believe because if we can fix the root, we can fix the fruit,” said Rios.
Pastor Paul Preston was also present when the trailer was found missing.
“We just said, ‘You know what? We’re going to do with what we got because it’s not about the stuff that makes the service. It’s about us. We are the church,'” said Preston.
Surveillance video captured a Ford F-150 hooking the trailer with a hitch and hauling away with it at some point between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
“There’s nothing that’s unforgivable, and the thing is that this person that did this, they weren’t trying to personally attack any of us,” Rios said. “I don’t think they had any intent to say, ‘Watch us destroy what they’re doing.’ I think they said, ‘How do I get what I really want to get, what I think I need?’ and they chased it down.”
Rios said he has already forgiven the crook.
“At the end of the day, God loves that person too,” he said.
Rios hopes the thief sees what they took and has a change of heart.
“Our prayer was and our hope was that this person is going to open up that trailer, see that they took it from a church and maybe feel the conviction of God and bring it back,” said Rios.
The pastor said the church of roughly 200 members has grown immensely since it opened less than four years ago in a facility transformed from a dance studio.
“If there’s a pregnant woman in the room, we count her twice. If someone’s driving by too slow in the parking lot like they’re lost, we count them too. They must have been looking for us,” added Rios.
If you have any information on this theft, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $3,000 reward.
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