Fort Myers car burglar caught on camera

FORT MYERS, Fla. – In a video taken by a homeowner’s security camera, you see what looks like a young man walk right up to an unlocked car in the driveway early Thursday morning. While the neighborhood is sleeping, he climbs inside and starts rummaging around.

It happened in the Sherwood at the Crossroads community near the intersection of Colonial Boulevard and State Road 82, and it’s not the first time.

“Some neighbors down at the other end of the street also had their cars, both of them broken into this morning. They left them unlocked,” said Ken Lawrence.

The owners tell WINK nothing was stolen from the cars, but they’re the lucky ones. The owner of a car two houses down says he had items stolen from it six months ago, and a high school senior says the garage door opener was stolen out his car last month.

“It kind of worries me because this neighborhood, especially this street that we’re on, there’s a bunch of kids, like little young kids they play outside all the time,” said Joel Castro.

“I wouldn’t call these people professional burglars, these are kids that are out looking for a quick score… they’re roaming the neighborhood and going up and down the block,” said Fidel Balan, president of the homeowners’ association.

While some homeowners are calling for increased security, Balan says there’s a simple solution.

“The first line of defense would be for our own homeowners to take greater caution and lock their vehicles at night,” he said.

Fort Myers police tell WINK News they’re taking a close look at the surveillance video.