Good Samaritan receives reward for stolen truck

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Thieves made off with thousands of dollars worth of pricey equipment.

A local business owner was robbed of nearly $100,000 worth of water removal equipment. Walter LaFreniere put most of his life into his water removal business. "I slowly built it," he said. "It took me 17 years to get what I got and then Christmas Eve they took everything."

LaFreniere kept his gear inside of two trucks parked in a locked storage facility in Fort Lauderdale. The thieves cut through chains to get inside the lot and once they were in they began taking everything. "I had about 100 of these air motors stolen," said LaFreniere

He said the thieves broke into two trucks and loaded as many things into one truck as they could. They then hot-wired the truck and drove it away.

The thieves drove the truck just a few miles away and left it sitting idling in an Oakland Park neighborhood. The truck was left running for three days.

A local man found it to be suspicious and decided to call the number displayed on the side of the truck.

LaFreniere rewarded the Good Samaritan with $1,000 for making the phone call. "If it weren't for that little kid calling me I would've never found my truck," said LaFreniere.

"I saw the window busted out," said Bernard Littles, "so I did like any good person would do and I called to see if this truck was missing cause it didn't look right."

Some of the equipment was recovered inside the truck. More reward money will be offered for anyone who can help LaFreniere find the rest of his stolen equipment.

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