Neighbors say woman is dumping trash into Cape canal behind her house

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WINK News

A Cape Coral woman was caught on camera dumping trash into a canal behind her house, and neighbors are fuming.

One neighbor says it’s been happening for months. They’ve asked her to stop, but she refuses. City officials say what she’s doing could land her behind bars.

The canal is located in the area of Hancock Bridge Parkway and Del Prado Boulevard.

JJ Schwartz says every morning he hops into his kayak and fishes out the trash that his neighbor dumps in the canal behind their house.

“It’s weird, she will actually walk out almost like she’s testing me. I turn my back, next thing I know something is floating down. This isn’t the first time I’ve retrieved stuff. One time it was a cookbook. She cut up a cook book and all the pages and I got in there again,” he said.

He says he’s seen everything from stuffed animals to documents containing her address, and even a blanket wind up in the canal.

“I don’t want my wildlife choking on this stuff. I mean why would you do that? And this stuff could get caught in a motor,” Schwartz said.

His wife Vicky even caught the neighbor on camera dumping Styrofoam into the water.

“We have been here for a year and this has been going on since we’ve been here,” she said.

Schwartz says he has reported her to code enforcement, but nothing has been done to stop her. He says at the end of the day, it seems to be up to him to keep the water clean.

WINK News reached out to the woman twice, and tried to show her the video, but she did not respond for comment.

Officials say that it is a crime to dump trash into the canal, and if they observe her in the act, she could face up to $500 in fines and 30 days in jail.

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