A Southside family impacted by the sudden closure of Latitude 360 is now moving forward with their own business venture.
Action News Jax has been investigating the failed hotspot's shady business practices for months.
Marcus Rodriguez and dozens of other employees lost their jobs in January after Latitude 360 unexpectedly shut its doors, with the previous month's paychecks bounced.
“Being without jobs, you’re thinking about the little one. The worst-case scenario happened,” said Rodriguez.
With a 2-week-old daughter, Rodriguez’s health insurance was canceled and he was facing eviction.
“It’s just a minor setback for a major comeback,” said Rodriguez.
Now he and his wife, Niya Rodriguez, say it was a blessing in disguise.
They used it as an opportunity to become entrepreneurs themselves, launching an online family clothing business and blog called "Mommy is Everything."
In the meantime, the doors of the final remaining Latitude 360 location in Pittsburgh have been closed for about two weeks, after employees protested their checks were bouncing too.
CEO Brent Brown has been hard to find. He has stopped responding to multiple lawsuits against him.
A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office process server was able to serve Brown court documents last month in the parking lot in front of Starbucks at the St. Johns Town Center. He said Brown refused to roll down his window, so he yelled, “You’ve been served," and then shoved the court documents in the windshield.
Brown responded by filing a motion asking for more time to respond to the lawsuit, which accuses him of trading now-worthless Latitude 360 stock for an Aston Martin.
Action News Jax investigations have uncovered evidence that Latitude 360 owes millions in taxes and was withholding taxes from its employees' paychecks but not paying that money to the government.
Trending on ActionNewsJax.com:
- Flight attendant opens emergency door, deploys slide to get off plane in Houston
- Two dead in triple shooting in West Augustine
- Publix worker from Ponte Vedra arrested in child sex sting
- Photos: Woman, man dead after St. Augustine shooting
- Great white shark spotted off Atlantic Beach coast
Cox Media Group
