Good Samaritan robbed after trying to help

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla.- A good Samaritan says he was robbed by a group of men he was trying to help.

It happened around 10:30 p.m. Thursday night, along the side of the road outside the Moody River Estates.

The victim, who only wants to be referred to as “Pete,” tells WINK News he wants to make sure people don’t fall for the same trick he did.

“When I realized what was going, I started tearing up. I said ‘I got a wife and kids,’ I said ‘take the money, take the wallet.’ I don’t care about all that.”

The victim says he still can’t believe what he went through Thursday night.

He says he was driving home down Hancock Bridge Parkway when he saw a car with its flashers on, pulled off on the side of the road. So, he got out to help.

“As I walked up to the one gentleman, I said ‘hey what’s going on, do you need help?’ And he said ‘yeah,’ but wouldn’t look me in the eye and that’s when the other two got out.”

“Put his arm on my shoulder, the driver said ‘give me your wallet’ and I said ‘really? what’s going on here?’ And then the other guy grabbed me harder like this and that’s when the driver put something against my chest. I can’t say it was a gun or anything, I don’t know but I wasn’t taking the chance.”

“After that, I gave them my wallet and everything, and I actually asked them. because it was my last $240, I actually asked them ‘please give me a couple dollars back.’ And they looked stunned, like they were like ‘are you serious you’re lucky to walk out of here alive’ and they threw my wallet to the side.”

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office says this is the first reported case with this description. But Pete says it seemed like the men had done it before.

“It seemed rehearsed, it seemed like they knew what they were doing.”

Pete says the men were in their 20s and driving an older model grey Nissan Maxima.

He says two of them were wearing masks and the driver had a hoodie on.

Pete says despite what happened, this won’t change who he is, and he’ll probably stop and help the next person he sees who needs it.