CLEVELAND – Larchmere Imports has been around for years, but after a recent robbery, they are thinking about whether to continue their business with the owner.
It began as the car love of John Negus, importer of Larchmere. From there, it flourished in an old business that was over three years old.
“It was a natural progression to start buying and selling them,” Negas said.
Negas said the area is “solid” and he thinks it’s home. However, for the first time since 1988, he said his home had been breached.
Between 5:30am and 6am on early Monday morning, Negas said individuals broke into the dealership, found a place where the car keys were stored, and drove them in three expensive vehicles.
“There was a rather serious massacre in front of the building where the front of the building had been blown away on the street, making it look like a car had been stolen,” Negas shared. “The gate is open. It was clear that the building was broken and the car had been stolen in a rather terrible way. They went through the gate and headed the building, which was a bit of a pain.”
The three stolen cars include a white Land Rover, a gray BMW sedan and a white convertible BMW.
Negas said one of the vehicles had been recovered as of Wednesday.
Additional information was requested from the Cleveland Police Department. We are still waiting for a reply.
We walked through the nearby neighborhood to see if anyone had a video of the crime. We knocked on 14 doors and managed to get the same white Land Rover surveillance as those stolen from the Larchmere imports.
In that same video, a hooded individual is seen running to a Land Rover and jumping into the driver’s seat.
Surveillance video will be on Monday at 5:40am, according to the individual who provided the footage.
Negas is already planning the future while investigations continue into what happened and who was involved.
There have been shattered doors to the business on board since Monday’s incident, and Negas said he upgraded his security system.
“Of course, we’re working with insurance companies as long as we’re rebuilding the building. Within three hours, the restoration company has come and started closing the place as we see it,” Negus said. “Everything is basically working in the way it needs to be in an emergency.”
The Larchmere Imports showroom is currently empty.
“We had to secure property and it’s not safe now, so we had to move all our inventory out of the lot,” Negas said. “There’s a lot of pauses and reflections. There are a lot of questions about what the future looks like.”
It’s only been a few days since the robbery, but Negas said he’s already had a major impact on his business.
“When you see a customer staring at the window, you have to use up the back door and say we’re still here,” Negas said. “The end of the car of things has stopped being sold completely.”
The biggest impact Negas said is the violation he feels he sees as someone has decided to rob his business.
“It’s personal. It’s scary how it happened. I’m very grateful that I’ve never been injured by stepping into this while it was happening. It’s the question of how much I can take. Can I take it? That’s how it might be writing the future for me. And we’re not planning any changes,” Negas added.
Negas said there are some good things about this situation. The good thing is community support and outreach.
“Of course, we have clients and friends who represent their sadness: “Can we help?” It’s all very wonderful. We certainly don’t poop the good idea of everyone. No change occurs.
The old proverb is, if you see something, say something. If you have any crime information on Larchmere Imports, please call the Cleveland Police Department at 216-621-1234. You can also report anonymously.
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