POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — Thieves stole $200,000 worth of custom-made bicycles from a bike shop in Pompano Beach, Sunday.
The theft took place at Stradalli Cycle near Southwest 13th Court and 10th Avenue. Police said the crooks used a crowbar to pry open a rear door of the building and took off with more than 40 bikes. The thieves took off with custom-made bicycles, each worth over $6,000, and shoved them into a truck.
Tom Stradalli, the owner of the bike shop, hopes someone in the community saw the crime. "We’re just happy nobody is dead, you know?" he said. "Obviously losing $200,000 of product kind of sucks, but hopefully, we have a great cycling community. Hopefully somebody finds something."
According to surveillance footage, at around 11 p.m., a stolen minivan, pick up truck and a white roofing truck pulled up to the back door. "And the roofing truck was fully loaded, and they unloaded the full truck in the parking right before my shop. They knew what they were doing," said Stradalli. "Then men then appeared to work together to pry open the locked door with a long poll. We have a full inventory sheet, and we can clearly see that there are 47 missing."
Stradalli and his team built their inventory and business themselves. "I came to this country from Germany with only $180. I worked for everything, I owned everything," he said. He added that custom bikes have become a target in South Florida. "One of the cops told us that this is fifth to sixth bike shop in the last month."
If you have any information on this crime, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.