Vacant vacation houses targeted for unauthorized use

Summertime boredom, vacant vacation rental homes and youthful indiscretion have converged to foment a recent spate of break-ins on St. Armands and Lido keys.

In recent weeks, trespassers, typically in their late teens and early 20s, have gained access to empty residences to hold parties. The first reported incident of the summer occurred at 551 S. Washington Drive on St. Armands and, most recently, two at 460 N. Washington Drive. 

The discovery of an incident at 551 S. Washington Drive after Memorial Day weekend came when a real estate agent arrived to find empty alcohol bottles strewn throughout the house. The crime scene, however, was contaminated and evidence thrown out before law enforcement was called to investigate.

There was no sign of forced entry, said Sarasota Police Department Officer Helios Blanco, and the electronic door lock required an entry code.

"(The real estate broker) was going to look into it to see if any of her employees may have slipped something out or someone may have seen them typing in the numbers,” Blanco said. “Nothing was taken and nothing was destroyed. They just used the house just to have a party.”

Because there were no witnesses nor suspects identified in this case, Blanco said how many were in attendance could not be determined.

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Such was not the case with a party held on July 2 at 460 N. Washington Drive. There, an estimated 100 people had packed a vacant vacation rental. An alarm did activate, prompting a police response.

“According to the officers, they saw 100 kids running from the house, so they were having a party there without authorization,” said Blanco, who was not on duty that night. In that incident, there was no apprehension of partygoers. 

Following each incident Blanco said he sent an email to all residents associations and homeowners associations, asking they inform their members of the unauthorized uses and to urge them to take basic precautions to make sure they lock their vacant homes, alarm systems activated and functioning properly, and to be on the lookout for suspicious activities in their neighborhoods.

Only two nights later, another party had commenced at that same North Washington Drive address as reported by a neighbor heeding the call for vigilance. This time, with word already spreading via social media platforms, the organizer forcibly entered the home through a rear entrance.

Apprehended was a 19-year-old male charged with burglary because of damage done to the door while entering. That raised his charges from simple trespassing, which police would have charged other attendees with if they had been apprehended. Like two nights before, they scattered into a rainy night when the first law enforcement unit arrived.

“That’s a felony charge,” Blanco said of the arrested perpetrator. “If they come in, damage something or steal something, that trespass becomes a burglary. That means it goes from a misdemeanor up to a felony, which is more punishable depending on the person if they have a criminal history.”

A burglary conviction can carry a sentence of up to two years at the discretion of a judge. If the accused has a clean criminal history, Blanco said, it would likely result in a fine or community service. “But even then, as a 19-year-old that's not a good thing having a burglary charge on your record,” he said.

Failure to property secure and monitor a vacant home, be it a vacation rental or a seasonal residence, can leave it susceptible to other criminal activities as well. About two months ago, Blanco said a woman, apparently in search of unlocked vacant homes on Lido Key, found one, entered the house for a brief period, left and returned some two hours later with her son, two dogs and packed suitcases. The owner checked his security cameras later that day, noting the unauthorized occupancy and called law enforcement.

“She claimed that she had paid for it on Airbnb, but nothing about her story panned out,” Blanco said. “She said she had the email but it wasn't working.”

Her case, he added, is with the State Attorney’s Office.

In all those cases, there was no property stolen and the only damage, other than leaving a mess behind, was to the back door at 460 N. Washington Drive. 

Eliminating opportunity, Blanco added, is the best prevention for future unauthorized entry and use of the homes.

“So far it's just been these few incidents, but summer is still in full effect and we have another month, at least until school starts up,” he said. “Some of the homeowners don't even live in the state. They have property managers and alarm companies, depending if they're even active. That’s why we remind the (associations) to inform their members so we can be notified and hopefully catch them and deter this because we’ve seen more than once that it goes unnoticed until it’s already too late.”