CLEVELAND — Larchmere Imports has been around for years, but after a recent burglary, it has the owner contemplating whether to remain in business.
It started as a love of cars for Larchmere Imports Owner, John Negus. From there, it flourished into a more than three-decade-old business.
"It was a natural progression to start to buy and sell them," Negus said.
Negus said the area is "solid" and he considers it to be home. For the first time since 1988, though, he said his home has been violated.
Early Monday morning between 5:30 and 6 a.m., Negus said individuals broke into the dealership, found where the car keys were stored, and drove off with three expensive vehicles.
"Some pretty serious carnage on the front of the building where the front of the building had been blown out on the street, and it appeared as though cars had been stolen," Negus shared. "The gate is broken open. It was clear the building had been broken into and cars had been stolen in a rather egregious way. They drove right through the gate and drove right through the front of the building so it was kind of tough."
The three cars stolen include a white Land Rover, gray BMW sedan, and a white convertible BMW.
Negus said, as of Wednesday, one of the vehicles has been recovered.
We've requested additional information from the Cleveland Police Department. We're still waiting to hear back.
We walked throughout a nearby neighborhood to see if anyone had video of the crime. We knocked on 14 doors, and were able to obtain surveillance of a white Land Rover identical to the one stolen from Larchmere Imports.
In that same video, a hooded individual is seen running to the Land Rover and hopping in the driver seat.
The surveillance video is from 5:40 a.m. on Monday, according to the individual who provided the footage.
While the investigation into what happened and who was involved continues, Negus is already planning for the future.
Since the Monday incident, the shattered doors to the business have been boarded up and Negus said he's upgraded his security system.
"We're of course working with the insurance companies as far as rebuilding the building. We had a restoration company come in within three hours and start to close the place up like you see it now," Negus stated. "Everything is basically working the way it should in an emergency situation."
The showroom of Larchmere Imports now sits empty.
"We have to secure the property and it's not secure right now, so we had to move all of the inventory off lot," Negus said. "There's quite a bit of pause and reflection. There is a lot of questioning as far as what the future might look like."
It's only been a few days since the burglary, but Negus said it's already impacted his business significantly.
"When we see a customer out front sort of peering into the windows, we have to run out the back door and say we're still here," Negus said. "The car sales end of things has come to a complete stop."
The biggest impact Negus said is the violation he feels seeing that someone decided to burglarize his business.
"It's personal. It's terrible that it happened. I'm very thankful that nobody walked into this while it was going on and got hurt. It's just a matter of how much more of this I can take. Do I want to take it? In that way, it may be possibly writing the future for me. Is this a sign from above to consider a change? I haven't said yes it is, but these thoughts have been brought to my mind by other people in the family. I have to give that respect and consideration. As of right now, we're here and we don't plan on changing," Negus added.
Negus did say there is some good in this situation. That good is the community support and outreach.
"There's of course customers and and friends that are offering up their condolences and, 'Can we help?,' and so on and so forth. That's all very nice. It is helpful. We certainly don't poo poo all of everybody's good thoughts. Change happens and this might be a sign of a change as far as this whole place is concerned. I haven't made those decisions yet, so we'll have to see how that plays out," Negus said.
The old saying is if you see something, say something. If you have any information regarding the crime at Larchmere Imports, call the Cleveland Police Department at 216-621-1234. You can also report anonymously.
