Investigators search for suspects of boat burglaries in Lee County

Reporter: Breana Ross Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Credit: WINK News.

Boat burglars in Lee County are on the run. Similar crimes happened recently at different locations, but it’s unknown currently if they’re connected.

Boat owner Kevin Hoffer says you might want to check on your boat after someone stole part of his motor Thursday. The propeller is gone. It happened at a Southwest Florida Marine location. He’s not the only one this happened to recently.

Someone was seen breaking into several boats at Cape Coral Yacht Club recently. At the yacht club, people are just confused about how and why someone broke into at least seven boats on the marina but possibly left with nothing.

“It is a little bit surprising that people are that brave to go out and do that and risk jail time,” Kevin Hoffer said.

Hoffer says four more people who store their boats in at Southwest Florida Marine are also missing parts.

“It’s apparently a little bit easy to take off, and it’s not too heavy and easy to sell,” Hoffer said. “It’s worth probably three or four thousand to replace.”

At the yacht club, Cape Coral police say a man was caught on video entering at least seven boats in the marina. But they noticed he never had anything with him when he left.

“The whole thing is pretty bizarre and creepier than anything to me to be honest,” John Gant said.

Police say they located the suspect later Wednesday, but the report does not say if he was arrested.

Meanwhile, Hoffer is hoping the person who took his property is found.

“It’s amazing that that stuff happens, and nobody seems to get caught that much,” Hoffer said. “I don’t know. Hopefully, they do catch him.”

CCPD said many of the victims at the yacht club were not at the marina when the burglaries happened, but one man was asleep inside his boat when the suspect came inside. No one was hurt.

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