LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The owners of a local mattress and furniture delivery company told 8 News Now that they are losing sleep after they say someone stole their crucial cargo trailer early Friday morning.
Jose Argumaniz of Big Dozzzer Furniture, located within a business and warehouse complex off Valley View Boulevard and Twain Avenue, said the cargo trailer was stolen from outside their warehouse shortly after 3 a.m. on April 12. The markings were still on the ground nearly a week later. Argumaniz walked 8 News Now through what happened that fateful morning with the surveillance footage detailing the crime.
“He didn’t stop anywhere else, so it was planned,” Argumaniz said. “He got the locks off the hitched, he backed up to it.”
The thief’s escape was foiled briefly by the chains Argumaniz kept on the trailer. The suspect dragged the trailer as much as he could, chains screeching throughout the ordeal. He then cut the locks and stole the trailer. Argumaniz claims that it was a white, dodge pickup truck.
The trailer was empty at the time, but Argumaniz said it cost about $3,000.
The mattresses are all ready for delivery. Normally, Argumaniz said they can deliver six orders deliveries with the trailer and their pickup truck. Without the trailer, he said they could only do just two orders.
“We’ve been struggling as business is not very busy. With my wife being sick, I am the only one able to come to work right now. So with the trailer, the whole circumstance, it’s been really hard,” he said.
Since opening in 2019, he’s parked it outside, thinking it was secure. Going forward, he said he planned to store a new trailer off-site.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department crime statistics showed that car thefts are down and stolen property offenses are the same as last year. However, a similar situation happened to EZ Bath and Shower, a home remodeling company, just a few doors down.
Their trailer was left out for a couple of hours in August of 2023.
“I paid $8,000 for that trailer and at the end of the day that defeats the purpose of why we got it. To operate and run our business,” Stephonn Taylor with EZ Bath and Shower said.
They found the stolen trailer thanks to a tracker and they now park it inside.
Argumaniz filed a police report and told 8 News Now that he hopes his trailer will be returned and that the thief will be caught.
However, at the moment he and his wife are in limbo, waiting to see whether the trailer will be located or how insurance will kick in.
Metro police has several crime prevention tips on its website. If you want to schedule an appointment, you can do so with a crime prevention specialist.