FULL FORECAST IN A COUPLE OF MINUTES. MIKE, THANK YOU. NEW TONIGHT, THE OWNER OF AN OKEECHOBEE FUNERAL HOME BELIEVES $180,000 OF THEIR EQUIPMENT WAS STOLEN WHILE THEY WERE CLOSED DURING. HURRICANE NICOLE. OUR ANGELA ROZIER TELLS US WHAT WAS TAKEN. AND A BREAK IN IN THE CASE. A BREAK IN, THE CASE THAT TURNED OUT TO BE A SCAM. NOW I TALK TO THE OWNER OF THE FUNERAL HOME. I ASKED HIM, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SAY TO THE PEOPLE WHO DID THIS? HE SAYS, ALL HE CAN DO IS PRAY FOR THEM BECAUSE WHAT HAPPENED HERE IS JUST SAD. YEAH, THAT’S WHEN WE FIGURED OUT EVERYTHING WAS WHEN WE WERE IN THE PARK, SETTING UP. MATTHEW ROBERTSON SAYS WHEN HE LEFT HIS FUNERAL HOME WEDNESDAY, HIS EQUIPMENT WAS RIGHT HERE, SO EVERYTHING WAS PARKED RIGHT UP AGAINST THE BUILDING HERE, HE SAYS. THAT WAS THE DAY BEFORE HURRICANE NICOLE HIT. THE STAFF HERE AT BELSEN AND BATH OKEECHOBEE FUNERAL HOME SENT HOME EARLY TO RIDE OUT THE STORM. LATER LEARNED AN EXCAVATOR, A TRAILER A PICKUP TRUCK AND ALL THE EQUIPMENT LOCKED UP INSIDE THE VEHICLES WERE ALL GONE AND ALL TOGETHER TO REPLACE EVERYTHING. THERE’S GOING TO BE TWO IN 160 AND $180,000. I’M NOT JUST A FUNERAL HOME. I MEAN, I TAKE CARE OF FAMILIES EVERY DIRECTION FROM NOT ONLY THE THE FUNERALS AND BURIALS AND CREMATIONS, BUT WE DIG OUR OWN GRAVES. AND WE DO OUR OWN MONUMENT WORK. BUT HE SAYS THAT HASN’T STOPPED HIM. NO, MA’AM, IT HASN’T. IT’S JUST MADE LIFE A LOT MORE COMPLICATED. SO, LIKE I SAID, I HAVE CONTINUED THESE FOUR THINGS. NO FAMILY IS GOING TO EVER GOING TO KNOW OTHER THAN ALL THE TOWN UNDERTAKER, YOU KNOW, LOST ALL HIS EQUIPMENT. THAT’S ALL THEY’RE GOING TO KNOW. BUCKS AND OFFERED A 20 $500 REWARD. AND ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON, HE THOUGHT THERE WAS A BREAK IN THE CASE. HE CALLED AND HE SAYS, I KNOW WHERE ALL THIS STUFF’S OUT. I KNOW WHO’S INVOLVED. BUT IT WAS ONE OF THOSE SITUATIONS WHERE I’D LIKE TO 50 NOW AND I WANT TO 50 AFTER YOU GET EVERYTHING BACK, AND I GUARANTEE YOU YOU’LL GET IT BACK. SO WE KIND OF WENT BACK AND FORTH AND IT TURNED OUT TO BE A SCAM. THIS IS THE EQUIPMENT THAT IS THE BUSINESS? I’M JUST A SMALL GUY AND IT’S HARD FOR ME TO RECOUP SOMETHING LIKE THIS. IT’S NOT GOING DETER ANYTHING. WE’RE GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. BUT IT’S VERY, VERY FRUSTRATING. OKEECHOBEE POLICE, THEY ARE INVESTIGATING THIS CASE. THE OWNER AGAIN SAYS HE IS OFFERING A 20 $500 REWARD FOR
Advertisement
‘Not going to deter anything’: Okeechobee funeral homeowner vows to continue serving community after equipment stolen during Nicole
Updated: 5:40 PM EST Nov 14, 2022
The owner of an Okeechobee funeral home vows to continue serving his community after he said someone stole thousands of dollars worth of his equipment while the business was closed during Hurricane Nicole.Matthew Buxton said when he left his funeral home Wednesday, his equipment was there.”Everything was all parked right up against the building here,” Buxton said. Your neighborhood: Local coverage from WPBF 25 NewsBuxton said that was the day before Hurricane Nicole hit. The staff at Buxton and Bass Okeechobee Funeral Home were sent home early to ride out the storm.He later learned an excavator, a trailer, a pickup truck and all the equipment locked up inside the vehicles were all gone.”Altogether to replace everything, it’s going to be between $160,000 to $180,000,” Buxton said. “I’m not just a funeral home, I mean I take care of families in every direction – not only with the funerals, the burials, the cremations. We did our own graves. We do our own monument work.” He said that hasn’t stopped him.”It just made life a lot more complicated,” Buxton said. “I have contingencies for things. No family is ever going to know other than, well, the town undertaker lost all of his equipment – that’s all they’re going to know.”Buxton offered a $2,500 reward for information and on Friday afternoon, he thought there was a break in the case. Police conducted an investigation and determined that was not the case.”I’m just a small guy and it’s hard to recoup something like this,” Buxton said. “It’s not going to deter anything were going to make it happen, but it’s very, very frustrating.”
The owner of an Okeechobee funeral home vows to continue serving his community after he said someone stole thousands of dollars worth of his equipment while the business was closed during Hurricane Nicole.
Matthew Buxton said when he left his funeral home Wednesday, his equipment was there.
Advertisement
“Everything was all parked right up against the building here,” Buxton said.
Your neighborhood: Local coverage from WPBF 25 News
Buxton said that was the day before Hurricane Nicole hit. The staff at Buxton and Bass Okeechobee Funeral Home were sent home early to ride out the storm.
He later learned an excavator, a trailer, a pickup truck and all the equipment locked up inside the vehicles were all gone.
“Altogether to replace everything, it’s going to be between $160,000 to $180,000,” Buxton said. “I’m not just a funeral home, I mean I take care of families in every direction – not only with the funerals, the burials, the cremations. We did our own graves. We do our own monument work.”
He said that hasn’t stopped him.
“It just made life a lot more complicated,” Buxton said. “I have contingencies for things. No family is ever going to know other than, well, the town undertaker lost all of his equipment – that’s all they’re going to know.”
Buxton offered a $2,500 reward for information and on Friday afternoon, he thought there was a break in the case. Police conducted an investigation and determined that was not the case.
“I’m just a small guy and it’s hard to recoup something like this,” Buxton said. “It’s not going to deter anything were going to make it happen, but it’s very, very frustrating.”