Thirsty gym ‘cleaner’ gives cash a workout
Everybody is probably sick of hearing about Bobby. As funny as it is, it’s rather devastating as we have lost a fair bit of money mainly in electronics, cameras, iPads Paris Lightfoot ACTV Ashmore co-owner
A gym owner reeling from a bizarre imposter who claimed to be “Bobby the cleaner” when confronted has revealed huge losses and pay system tampering in the intrusion.
ACTV Ashmore co-owner Paris Lightfoot said the incident had resulted in thousands of dollars worth of electrical equipment going missing and pay system tampering which incorrectly refunded members.
The break-in – with CCTV showing the intruder’s 10hour stint inside, including guzzling pre-workout supplements and cleaning a bathroom, has gone viral but it’s not all “funny”, she said.
“Everybody is probably sick of hearing about Bobby,” she said. “As funny as it is, it’s rather devastating as we have lost a fair bit of money mainly in electronics, cameras, iPads.”
She said he had also allegedly taken cords for a body scanner, now no longer working, and took their “square reader” pay tapper.
“And on the iPad he managed to get into the square app and refund every customer that has ever used our square reader. Unfortunately square reader and the bank were not able to stop those transactions coming out of our account.
“So hundreds and hundreds of dollars have come out of our business account and been refunded to various people.” The incident has been reported to police.
The break-in started around 6pm on Sunday at the franchise started by surf ironman Ali Day and owned by stateleague Australian Rules players Lightfoot and Jackson Fisher.
Lightfoot was first made aware of the alleged intrusion when club member and exGold Coast Titans NRL star Zeb Taia asked her if they had a cleaner.
They don’t. Ex-backrower Taia had opened the gym on Monday for his workout at 4.20am and ran into the intruder, who told him he was “Bobby the cleaner”.
Lightfoot told the Bulletin, which broke the story, that “he was in the bathroom doing something or just cleaning”.
“It turns out this guy had been there since 6pm the night before. He ended up drinking seven energy drinks, some protein powder.
“He blew up the blow-up Santa we had up for Christmas that was under the desk, which we all kind of laughed at.
“He spent the whole night in there, had a shower and looked like he enjoyed himself.”
After coverage went national and she ended up on TV discussing the break-in, Lightfoot said this week: “I am grateful Bobby wasn’t armed or violent – in fact him and Zeb made friends. I still can’t believe that.
“(But) it could have been worse. Hopefully we can bounce back from this.”
Showing she could still see the humour in it, Lightfoot is offering a free week trial at ACTV Ashmore for anyone using the codeword ... yep, you guessed it, “Bobby”.