Beach suffers burglaries from unlocked doors
There were a rash of burglaries reported on Fort Myers Beach Monday.
Five vehicles or residences were broken into, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office incident report that was filed Tuesday morning.
Two incidents occurred on Bay Mar Drive and Coconut Drive and another was reported on 3830 Estero Blvd. Of those burglary reports, three involved unlocked vehicles, another involved an unlocked downstairs apartment and another tripped a security alarm before entry was reported.
“Burglars want to have the path of least resistance. They try everybody’s lock and, if it opens, he/she is into your world,” said LCSO Public Information Officer Tony Schall. “If the door doesn’t open, he/she will move on to the next car. It’s very seldom that they will break a window unless they know there is something in there they want. Some people make it convenient for them by keeping their cars unlocked.”
One of the owners of the burglarized homes called to say his car, workshop and home were all broken into. The undisclosed resident found most of his stolen items and neighbors’ possessions across the street from his home. He had not done a complete inventory of his articles at the time of the call.
“I’ll be locking my property from now on,” he said.
Fortunately, Schall said there doesn’t appear to be any recent history of repeated break-ins on the Beach nor a pattern of burglaries established on the island.
“We cannot stress highly enough that you need to lock up your vehicles and homes and have security systems installed if possible. Leaving your property unlocked is just inviting these criminals to victimize good, hard working people like us,” he said.