DAVENPORT, Fla. — A lot of sleepless nights for a Davenport neighborhood whose residents say they’re too afraid to sleep after multiple car burglaries in the neighborhood.
Since Sunday, at least 35 cars in Calabay Parc and Loma Del Sol communities have been broken into.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says they are still looking for other victims.
“Everything in the back seat was tossed over, everything in the consul was taken out and was on top of the driver's seat,” Ryan McFadden, a burglary victim, said.
Burglars have been skipping around on Highway 27, right on the Polk-Osceola line, targeting neighborhoods with low light, and without security gates.
Many neighbors say they believe they are easy targets because of the tourism traffic, vacation homes and their security isn’t as tight.
“There were seven cars and an eighth one down on this street that were broken into on Monday night,” McFadden said.
Victims thought the trend was over when four individuals were arrested, three men and one 16-year-old girl. 18-year-old Lazarus Mauvais, 19-year-old Keshawn Hodge and his brother, 20-year-old Keith Hodge, all of Apopka were arrested. A teenage girl was also arrested, but we are not revealing her identity because she is minor.
But then, the sleepless nights continued.
“He heard rustling and he went outside with his gun,” McFadden said his neighbor caught a new group of men in the act.
“I looked out my front window and I saw two guys standing right down here on the road with their hoods up like tightly and then the third guy was trying to break into my neighbors' car right across the street,” Dustin Covey said.
Covey said he didn’t even think before he ran outside to try and scare away the predators. He didn’t even take time to put his clothes on, which now he says he might have done differently.
“I just saw him and immediately wanted to stop them so I just grabbed my gun and ran downstairs and bolted out the door and just caught them by surprise big time that’s why one literally fell over trying to stumble back and they all just took off,” Dustin Covey said.
Afterward, he called the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to report the burglaries.
Thursday morning, three more young, black, men were arrested for the break-ins along Elderberry Drive.
Twenty-two-year-old Jaquan Carey of Winter Haven, 21-year-old Charles Griffin of Winter Haven, and 20-year-old Michael Williams of Auburndale were arrested and charged with burglary.
Now, neighbors say they just hope the burglaries stop at the driveway.
“I’m just really worried it’s going to get out of hand and they are going to be breaking into houses next and someone is going to get hurt,” McFadden said.
