Burglaries put residents on alert

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Tom Leavey was vacationing in Paris with his wife when someone smashed through the rear sliding glass door of his Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club home and stole antique jewelry.

A neighbor who was keeping an eye on Leavey’s home in the Siena neighborhood did not see or hear anything when it happened, probably sometime in the middle of the night around Nov. 7.

“It was a real shock to us; you never hear anything like that happening here,” said Leavey, a board member on Lakewood Ranch Community Development District 5, who cut his annual 10-day trip to Paris three days short to tend to his home. “I always thought we were safe.”

A series of home burglaries along the Interstate 75 corridor in Manatee and Sarasota counties— most following a similar pattern — has put Lakewood Ranch officials and residents on guard. The burglaries have heightened the urgency to safeguard homes.

Year to date, as of Nov. 16, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has responded to 31 home burglaries in its N80 sector — encompassing I-75 to Lorraine Road and State Road 70 to University Parkway — up from 21 at the same time last year.

From Oct. 16 to Nov. 16, there were six home burglaries in that same sector.

Talk and fear about the incidents has spread quickly among residents of Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club, although sheriff’s office representatives stress such crime trends — spurts of crime that follow a similar pattern — are not unusual.

Many homeowners shared inaccurate information through email, pushing Dick Moran, who represents CDD 2 on the Country Club/Edgewater Village Association’s Safety Committee, to share a follow-up email with other board members.

“While the number of crimes is higher than I would like to see, data I have obtained through the MCSO would seem to lay to rest the idea that we are in the middle of a crime wave on the Ranch,” Moran wrote Nov. 11. “Having said that, I believe the recent burglaries should be a concern to all of us.”

Moran invited Capt. Lorenzo Waiters and Lt. William Vitaioli, of the Sheriff’s Office, to share tips on preventing break-ins before a joint meeting of Lakewood Ranch CDDs 2, 5 and 6 Nov. 19.

He is scheduling a similar meeting for the public in early December. 

All the burglaries seem to follow a similar pattern, said Waiters, who oversees a sheriff’s office district that includes Lakewood Ranch. Most happen at night. In about 90% of them, residents are not home and have been gone for long periods of time.

The burglars enter through rear sliding glass doors. They want the same products.

“They already know what they want: jewelry, TVs, laptop computers and iPads,” Waiters said.
Sometimes, though, their behavior is less predictable.

In one instance, a couple went out to dinner around 5 or 6 p.m. and came back at 11 p.m. to find they’d been burglarized. At a break-in Nov. 15, in Greenfield Plantation, someone entered a home while the homeowners were out to lunch.

Waiters emphasized the intruders have no intent on being violent.

Through DNA evidence, the sheriff’s office has identified a suspect in the burglaries, Waiters said.

However, he declined to provide more information.

Residents of Country Club West have responded to the incidents by forming a neighborhood watch (see related story, above).

Country Club West responds with Neighborhood Watch program
At the Lakewood Ranch CDD 6 meeting Nov. 21, James Rogoze, secretary of the Country Club West homeowners association, told board members residents are worried about their safety. 

As a result, Country Club West will establish neighborhood watches for each of its seven neighborhoods.
The HOA gave Rogoze the go-ahead to find two to three residents from each neighborhood to serve as the eyes and ears of their individual community. 

As they go about their daily routines, the representatives from each neighborhood will look for suspicious behavior and report such activity to the sheriff’s office.

“We want to have protections that are as strong as possible,” Rogoze said. “If people are alert and aware, it won’t be easy for the burglars to get away with anything. They will probably pick on an easier target.”
Rogoze hoped to bring forward volunteer neighborhood watches to the HOA at its December meeting.

“I expect everybody to be in support of this,” said Rogoze, who noted there have been no recent reported burglaries in Country Club West. “It’s hard to argue against safety.”

CRIME STOPPERS
Residents can help prevent future burglaries — and help solve those under investigation — Capt. Lorenzo Waiters, of the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, said.

Here are a few tips:

• Home security systems deter criminals.

• People should alert neighbors when they leave town but refrain from posting their travel plans on social media.

• Record license plate information for suspicious vehicles.

• Call the police at 745-3011 and dial extension 1549 to report suspicious activity.

• Call the sheriff’s office to have your home security system inspected.

BY THE NUMBERS
31 — number of home burglaries this year as of Nov. 16 in zone N80 (encompassing I-75 to Lorraine Road and State Road 70 to University Parkway)
21 — number of home burglaries in that zone at the same time last year
9 — number of home burglaries in East County since April

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].