Nearly $1M in medical gloves stolen from Coral Springs warehouse

Coral Springs, Florida –  A supplier in Coral Springs is reeling after nearly $1 million in medical gloves were stolen from a warehouse.

Officials with Medgluv, a medical supply company that has been in business for 20 years, discussed Sunday evening’s theft at a news conference, Monday.

“What was on the truck was medical grade exam gloves, all [Federal Drug Administration] registered product, going to many of our local hospitals,” said Richard Grimes, Medgluv’s vice president of sales and marketing.

Surveillance video captured a cab pulling into the parking lot of the company’s warehouse, located off Coral Ridge Drive and Northwest 41st Street.

Several men could be seen getting out of the vehicle and hitching a trailer filled with the medical exam gloves that had recently been shipped from Malaysia last Friday, waiting to be transferred inside.

Grimes said the heist was executed without a hitch.

“The tractor-trailer truck backed up to the container that was still holding the gloves, and within a matter of moments, he detached that product. Another gentleman came in from the pickup truck to assist in the loading of that product onto the tractor trailer,” he said. “They pulled away, and I would say, in three to four minutes, they had taken off with nearly a million dollars’ worth of product.”

Medgluv officials said the gloves were meant to be shipped to area hospitals in dire need of more personal protective equipment.

Grimes said he doesn’t understand how people can do this.

“After 20 years, this is the first time I’ve ever seen medical product being stolen in this environment,” he said, “and this is all personal protective equipment for our first responders.”

Investigators are attempting to determine whether or not the thieves were aware of what was inside the trailer, but after viewing the surveillance footage, executives suspect the crooks knew exactly what they were doing.

“There didn’t seem to be in a hurry whatsoever. By watching the video, it just seemed like they were calm, cool and that they’ve done something like this before in the past, but that’s an assumption,” said Grimes.

Grimes said the hit has hurt both the business and area hospitals that were supposed to receive the supplies beginning Monday.

“This is badly needed. We have had hospitals asking for this product since last week, on a daily basis: ‘When is it going to arrive?’” he said, “and this morning, the first two emails I had were from two of our hospitals wanting to know if the product had shipped yet. We were planning on shipping it this morning to them.”

Medgluv has also alerted the FBI about the theft because the supplies are federally registered.

If you have any information on this heist, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $3,000 reward.