Break-in Village of Sanibel
 

Heard at Water Volleyball tonight there was a house in Sanibel that was broken into--front door kicked in and house messed up--jewlery and cash missing?? Happened today at 1100 am??? Anyone have further info??

I was playing shuffleboard at Captive this morning and we heard sirens around that time. This is distressing to read...

Anybody know the street?

It happened in the middle of the block on Vanilla Leaf Pl just off Pinellas. Know the neighbors so don't want to go into particulars but is a sad situation for the Villages

Somebody was really "brave" to knock down the door in the middle of day and take time to ransack the house. Wow! I live in Sanibel and this is unreal.

And people here roll their eyes and look at you like you're crazy when you say you have a monitored alarm system, just like many of us had in any other suburban, city or rural neighborhood across the country.

That is why I am very weary of people coming into my home, not that I have anything, but still.

Where the occupants home?

That is really sad. I hope they catch the perpetrator/s.
Does anyone have stats on how often break-ins occur in TV.

Did they break down the front door? That would not be a small effort and would take an implement, I would think. Or did they go through the back sliders? They can be forced if they don't have a stick in them.

I have now lived here for five years, the first four half time. I have never spoken or heard from anyone personally or knew anyone personally that knew anyone personally that had a break in. There was jewelry taken from two or three homes in the middle of the day while the owners were away north of 466, reported on this forum and in The Daily Sun. If I remember correctly, the son of a resident was arrested. There was a sub contractor arrested for stealing appliances from a home not yet closed reported in The Daily Sun. Golf carts were stolen and they caught the son of the resident who was doing it and selling them to a person off campus, also reported in The Daily Sun.

It is as safe here as it was in Ohio in my opinion. I am impressed with the new security systems using cameras. They are installed all over the inside and outside of homes, hidden from plain view and you can access them from your smart phone when you are away. (I don't sell them. I get checks directly from Gary Morse, remember? He gave me my house);)

Is Vanilla leaf completely sold out or only partially inhabited?

I haven't read the paper yet this morning. If it isn't in the paper someone ELSE please call the news editor, (Reba?). I think I have pithed her off because I have called several times to check on things.

Call me crazy but
 

I feel safe in TV....We have residents that are retired and check out any strange behavior in the neighborhood, which is unlike our home in NC with neighbors that have both members of the family working....Plus I would say that a greater percentage of our neighbors (retired military) are ARMED....Granted we do have a higher percentage of snowbirds south of 466 which does make them more vulnerable, but we do have Community Watch and every gate has a camera...So there are definitely pluses for living in TV...Sure hope the family robbed is OK and their items are recovered and the culprits go to the big house.

I have read at least 1/2 dozen reports of house break-ins, quite a bit of golf cart thievery, golf clubs being stolen off the carts, etc. over the past couple years. There are no security gates here, so anyone can get in. Keep your doors locked when you're not around, and don't leave your golf cart where you can't see it.

The OP said the front door

If the door was kicked in, that sounds like a home invasion, especially if the dwelling is occupied. When we were on our LSV, I noticed the doors and the locks were not high quality and would be relatively easy to force and gain entry. This had the potential for going bad and fast, for the homeowner or the bad guy. I hope that the owners are well and a quick arrest is made.

Wow. At eleven in the morning in our village there is always someone about, riding bikes, golf carts, walking dogs, etc. Wonder how they got away with it? Hope there were some cameras on other houses.

We had keys and were receiving furniture for friends not yet moved in yesterday in Sanibel and The Village Watch stopped to verify us, and the Southern Lifestyle truck was parked in front.

Things can be replaced its just so sad

Front Door
 

Well it might take me several minutes to attempt to kick in a door. However, back in Virginia I almost had someone gain entry with me in the house. I saw three suspects entering my driveway on foot in mask! So- I dead bolted my door and called 911. They attempted to kick the door in but something spooked them--(I had dogs). No entry gained.

However--they busted out my whole door jam in one kick! Not sure which one did (big guy or all three)..but ONE kick and my door was twisted and could easily had been pushed opened again.

So--FYI, if you have not ever tried to KICK in a front door--I think that it can be done within seconds!:police::police:

Keep an eye out please-- I don't live far from that area!

Depending on the quality of the door and lock, yes it can be kicked in relatively easy.

Just goes to remind us that we don't live in a bubble, or a gated community. TV is fantastic, but no matter where you are, there will be people who try to take advantage of others. This may happen once in a blue moon, but I don't want that once to be me, so I have a security system. They see my sign and move on to something else. Even stupid burglars are smarter than that. Why set off an alarm, and have the police dispatched when they can go somewhere else without those deterrants. Call ADT, Frontpoint, Vivant, or some other security system provider and have peace of mind. I use Frontpoint and I couldn't be happier.

You know we have posted on to have a system and most of us said no..now I am thinking a little different.

Many people on this board say things like this don't happen in TV. Is this the first time?

Or you could get a big barking poop machine - my two would scare off Godzilla - now if they had a gun that could be a different story. We lived in "the hood" in historic Wilmington NC and I never hesitated to let people know where my two fur friends lived and never had a problem; however, one day the alarm went off while I was home (took me a half hour to rip the wires out of the wall to silence it) and no one even came to see if their was a problem. Alarms were so common place most people just ignored them.

Can I just get a sign without the alarm, that would accomplish the goal of moving the burglars to my neighbors house, no?

You can get fake cameras and alarm stickers on ebay.

Was there an article in today's Sun? I looked, but didn't see one.

They didn't just come in, the knocked down the door! Time for jail bars!

To kick in a door the perps had to know that the home owners weren't home so they probably observed them leave. Or perhaps they rang the bell first. Who knows but I'm not surprised or even concerned. I am vigilent about security and know that bad people live everywhere so take precautions, get deadbolts, an alarm system if that helps you to feel secure and know that random crime is everywhere. We are an enclave that looks affluent and seniors are considered sitting ducks. Still I feel safter here than anyplace else I've lived and I've lived in some upscale communities.

Seems to be a lot we don't know about this incident or at least have questions. Did someone knock the door down and take time to ransack the house at 11am? Or was this when the police arrived following maybe a break in during the night when everybody in the neighborhood was sleeping? Also, I assume the residents were not home at the time of the break in, no? We all know there are "bad people" everywhere----even in TV. I do know this area is built out or very very close to build out and there would have been some people in the neighborhood out and about at 11am on any given day just like any village neighborhood in TV. OP, do you have any further details without getting into privacy issues which I'm sure all of us want to respect??

We had a neighbor in our previous neighborhood who worked for a Security company and sold security systems. He had a sign and no system. Too funny.

I love this statistic from our former (urban) county up north: 95 PERCENT of all break-ins occurred in homes WITHOUT DOGS. A barking dog is your best deterrent.

I do believe that barking dogs are a very good deterrent. I'm glad to hear that my 70 lb dog is finally earning her dogfood. If I answer the door with my two dogs visible, even huge burly men take a step backward. It's so easy to purchase a "fake" security sign. I'm not sure how effective they are.

Bottom line, our neighbors are our best security system ever. I hope we all continue to watch over each other.

Duplicate post

LOL. I suppose it would, but in a world where some imbecile will kick a front door down at 11:00 AM in a busy neighborhood and ransack the house, I want a monitored system that will actually provide police assistance, sound an alarm, and notify me when someone breaks into my home. I wish all my neighbors in The Villages would get some monitored system, and thus move the burglars to some other community.

Maybe the Developer (Company, not the individual) could negotiate a contract with a system provider and get us all a huge price break based upon volume!

The residents were not at home so this is why they know it was done between 11 am and 12:30 pm. I heard that the front door was not kicked in but somehow lifted to gain entry...don't ask how this could be done if the door was locked. Jewelry and money taken. Neighbors reported a suspicious man and woman in the area along with a possible white van. The neighborhood is already built so there is not an abundance of contractors. I'm not sure how the home is designed but I know I can't see anything going on in the front of my home. Everyone in Sanibel received an email yesterday regarding the incident.

I've got two dogs too. Unfortunately from a security standpoint, the largest of the two is 8.2 lbs and probably won't put much of a scare into a burglar. :laugh:
I agree about the sign. It will scare off some. Why would they take a chance on a "signed" home when there are so many available without them, but having a real monitored system, that sounds an alarm, dispatches police, and notifys me when the system is tripped puts bite in your bark, just like your two bigger dogs. :police:

It could have been simply some one who took a chance and after seeing the residents leave proceeded with unlawful entry. Or it could be a vendor who knew that home, their conctents, habits etc and waited for an opportunity.
Many break-ins result from kicking down a door. some with using a jack to spread the jam far enought to allow the door to swing freely. This is wy it is recommended that a dead bolt be at least an inch long.

What is evident is that we are not as vigilant as we believe we ae if this theft was committed mid-day.

It also makes it clear that we are very vulnerable.

I noticed in our neighborhood a young black woman walking along our cul-de-sac. it struck me that we have no black neighbors in our neighborhood nand that this young attractive female w in her early 20's.
It then occurred to me that we had a string of break-in in the area about 2 years ago and when caught the police found a young balck woman was scouting the neighborhood for her boyfriends and his friends .

Essentially we have many people working The Villages and I'll amke a bet that not one employers does a background check on these folks.

For those uber-liberals since I'm talking about identifying possible supicious circumstances I;m allowed to say black. If she were white I would have said white and if she were a he iwould have he. Hee Hee

One of my friends put a phony sign in front of her house for a deterrent but it was broken into anyway. It was not in TV, but they brought weapons with them in case some one responded to the alarm while they were still there. When they eventually discovered there really was no alarm system, they slowed down and took their time, stealing all of her family heirloom jewelry. She spent months going to pawn shops, but never found any of it. Very sad. After that, she put in a real alarm system. Since I have nothing anyone would want, I don't worry much.

Did you call either Community Watch or the sheriff to investigate the suspicious lady?

see post #12

who sent the email??