ORANGE PARK, Fla. — A small asphalt paving business is scrambling after a nearly $300,000 dump truck was stolen earlier this week from a hotel parking lot in Orange Park, disrupting work schedules and putting employees’ livelihoods at risk.
That’s according to Daniel Richard, a project manager and foreman with Driveway Experts of Florida.
Richard said the truck was parked overnight at the Days Inn, next to other heavy equipment, while one of the company’s drivers was staying at the hotel.
“For a lack of a better term, they MacGyver’d it,” Richard said, describing how the theft unfolded.
Surveillance video from the hotel shows part of how the blue dump truck was taken from the parking lot. Richard said whoever stole it appeared to know exactly what they were doing.
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“Our driver was staying there,” Richard said.
Richard said the Jacksonville-based company’s owner was out of town at the time of the theft. After the truck was taken, Richard had just finished laying asphalt at a job site when he learned what happened.
“With a $300,000 truck, you could strip it for parts, or you could ship it off overseas,” Richard said. “There are people who do this pretty regularly who are supposedly pretty good at it.”
The case has drawn wider attention after Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook shared video of the theft on social media. Richard said the thieves likely forced entry and disabled security measures.
“I’m guessing they jimmy’d the lock and did something with the ignition switch,” Richard said. “They ditched the tracking device we had through our insurance company and sent us on a wild goose chase that wasn’t there.”
Richard said the theft is not an isolated case and appears to be part of a broader trend of heavy equipment thefts across Florida.
Edward Gallagher, who operates the Jacksonville office for the business, pointed to other reports statewide, including a case in Tampa where a man was accused of stealing eight dump trucks valued at more than $1 million.
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The impact on the company has been immediate.
Gallagher said Driveway Experts of Florida employs about 26 people, many of whom rely on steady work to support their families.
With one of their main trucks gone, Richard said the company is now about 50 jobs behind schedule and struggling to keep up with demand.
“I wish people wouldn’t take things that don’t belong to them and put guys out of work,” Richard said. “We’ve all got families to feed and provide for. You show up and you don’t have your equipment. It’s devastating.”
Richard said the situation could have been far worse if thieves had taken more than one vehicle.
“This is our other truck that was parked next to it in the video,” Richard said. “Luckily they didn’t get both of them. We’d have been really bad off then.”
Gallagher is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the return of the stolen dump truck. He said anyone with information can report tips anonymously.
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