Car burglaries, home invasion rattle residents of three south Lee neighborhoods

A string of late-night car burglaries last week in southern Lee County has residents on edge.

The thieves have broken into cars and at least one home in three neighborhoods — The Meadows, Timberlake and The Islands. The communities aren't gated, but they are well lit, and the homes are close to one another.

The burglars entered unlocked cars and ransacked the whole interiors, swiping anything of value, according to Lee County Sheriff's Office reports and a news release from Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers.

"Moral of the story is lock your cars," said Tiffany Wood, a spokeswoman with the Sheriff's Office.

She otherwise declined to comment on the cases or the status of the active investigation.

At least one car burglary turned into a home invasion.

On Tuesday night, the burglars came into Darren Crowe's open garage in The Islands neighborhood while he and his wife were sleeping. They rifled through both cars and then silently entered the house through an unlocked door.

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"They went into every room," Crowe said, after finding his office tossed and drawers open everywhere. "I just can’t believe it, man."

Not more than five feet from where they were sleeping, the thieves unplugged a television and Play Station. They also took his wife's credit card, which they used just before 5 a.m. at a nearby Steak 'n Shake.

Crowe said sheriff's deputies told him Friday they haven't been able to identify any suspects.

So far, the thieves have made off with mostly wallets, phones and cash, according to Sheriff''s Office reports.

They also took a man's pistol and a box of ammunition, both left inside an unlocked car. Burglars struck 13 cars Wednesday night alone.

Ryan Thomas' home security camera recorded a dark, four-door Hyundai slowly rolling up and down the street in The Islands neighborhood, possibly for casing potential targets. Thomas, who was not robbed, said deputies told him at least a dozen cars on his street had been burglarized.

"It kind of rattles you," Thomas, 28, said Friday. "You think this is a safe community."

About a quarter-mile up Three Oaks Parkway, in the Timberlake neighborhood, Ward Jacobson's camera recorded two young men in hoodies walk by his cars, peer inside and then continue down the street.

"I'm just glad it wasn't me," he said.

Deputies have canvassed the neighborhoods looking for witnesses and have circulated video of the hooded crew to residents in the area. The video shows at least three young men, possibly teenagers with their faces covered, "car hopping" from driveway to driveway, looking for unlocked doors.

Right across the street from Jacobson, Marie Saint-Surin, 57, came outside Tuesday morning to find her glove box and center console wide open.

A hospice nurse who has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years, Saint-Surin thought it worrisome but didn't report it because nothing was stolen and she couldn't believe someone would break into her car.

"I thought about it," she recalled. "But I said, 'No way.' "