LAKE WALES — Stuart Fitzgerald, 50, works hard, long, hot hours as a rancher, herding cattle, maintaining pastures and keeping fences intact.
He has also been known to help those less fortunate, including gathering and delivering desperately needed relief supplies for residents in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian leveled parts of Grand Bahama in 2019.
Early Wednesday morning, when he arrived at property his family has worked cattle on for several generations, he got that sick feeling that only comes from discovering you've been robbed.
More than $70,000 worth of heavy equipment vanished overnight from the property near Crooked Lake along U.S. Highway 27.