SALISBURY — When the staff arrived at Lazy 5 Vets on Friday, something was off — the AC.
Early Friday morning, between 1 and 2 a.m., thieves drove up in a truck with an extended trailer and stole four of the HVAC units from the South Main Street facility. Owner Scott Julian said that based on video surveillance taken from security cameras, they were in and out in less than four minutes.
“The security footage is grainy,” Julian said. “Basically, they came up in a truck. They drove up in the back with a trailer or extended trailer, and they cut the power of the units, and they cut the cabling.”
There were six AC units serving the property prior to Friday’s incident. However, the thieves were not able to steal all six of them.
“They could only take four,” Julian said. “I don’t think they realized how big the units were. They did not have enough truck space to get them all. They left two behind, but they took four.”
Unfortunately, the efforts taken to detach and disconnect the units were enough to render the remaining units useless.
“The damage is done,” Julian said. “The ones they cut apart will have to be replaced as well.”
While the theft has presented adversity, it has not disrupted operations for the veterinary clinic. Julian credits a dedicated staff and prompt, professional service from his HVAC contractor for keeping things running smoothly.
“We are trying to minimize all the impacts,” Julian said. “We have a professional and great team in place. Our HVAC contractor brought us some indoor units to get us through in the high-traffic areas.”
Additionally, the facility has an extended boarding space that still has AC, so they have that option to take animals if necessary.
“We have had some inconvenience with our staff being hot but they are pushing through and being troops as always,” Julian said. “We are operating at full steam. We don’t have any kind of reduction in staff or hours. We have not changed any hours or canceled any appointments.”
It was not just the clinic staff that Julian praised.
“We are blessed with a very good HVAC contractor who sent out five separate teams on the day of (the theft),” Julian said.
Two of the six units are back online as of Monday.
“They are anticipating, hopefully, by the weekend trying to get them all back up and running,” Julian said.
He added that he could not say enough about Brandon Biles and The Heating and Cooling Shop out of Landis.
In total, the units were estimated to cost about $140,000. While that would present a large financial setback, Julian indicated that they do have insurance.
“We will be filing it under insurance, and we are still waiting on all the details of that to come down and through,” Julian said. “That would be a huge hit if insurance does not help us with it, but we are thankful for our agents.”
