Suncoast Homeowners Return from Hurricane Evacuation to Find their Homes Burglarized 

 

 

Suncoast Homeowners Return from Hurricane Evacuation to Find their Homes Burglarized – Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

Francesco Abbruzzino, The Uncensored Report, LLC

 

CCSO

 

Charlotte County residents headed the warning to evacuate their homes for safety prior to Hurricane Milton, however, some returned to find their homes broken into and their possessions stolen.

Charlotte County residents in zones A, B, & C, were told to evacuate due incoming Hurricane Milton. Hundreds if not thousands of residents secured their belongings and evacuated to safe locations to wait out the storm. As many in Southwest Florida are aware, evacuating is sometimes a necessary but equally terrifying time to go through. Packing up your family and essentials, unsure of what the storm might do to your home, and driving away, is a feeling many of us can sadly relate to.

Coming home post storm is an entirely different feeling mixed with concern, some relief that it’s over, and heavy emotion. For some Charlotte County residents in particular, these feelings were compounded upon when they returned discovering their homes had been burglarized.

On October 8th an Englewood resident left her home on Beach Rd. and returned on October 14th to find her front window had been broken with a fire extinguisher and the front door unlocked. Deputies responded and cleared the home finding jewelry, tools, a generator, a laptop, and a black backpack missing. They also discovered a safe broken open and an open can of soup left on the counter. A suspect later identified as Nelson J. Saylor (02/17/1967) (a person of interest in a separate Englewood burglary) was stopped near the Englewood Walmart on October 17th.

When deputies confronted Nelson with their findings, he claimed that his boat had been sinking during the storm, so he swam to shore and stayed with a friend who he knew and had left a note for. Nelson was placed under arrest in connection to the burglary on Beach Rd. as well as a burglary in the area of Sand Dollar Lane.

On October 17th deputies also arrested a suspect later identified as Robert Lamothe (11/5/82). After Hurricane Milton had passed, Lamothe entered Hideaway self- storage at 835 Tamiami Trail, where he then entered a storage unit and stole over $2000 worth of items while the business was without power or security footage. Several items including Airpods and an Apple watch were reported missing.

Lamothe had started selling the items on Facebook Market place. The victim (having done a little investigation of his own) discovered his Airpods for sale. The victim arranged to ‘purchase them’ and contacted CCSO to be there when the seller arrived. The serial number confirmed that the Airpods belonged to the victim and Lamothe was placed under arrest.

“I would first off like to thank my deputies for bringing these cases to a quick close so these individuals could be brought to justice, and the families can move forward. It makes me sick to think that people who headed the warnings and evacuated for their safety, returned to this unnecessary stress. To take advantage of someone during a state of emergency is simply despicable, and I hope these two take time to think about that behind bars.”

– Sheriff Bill Prummell

Lamothe and Saylor were transported to the Charlotte County Jail and charged with the following.