FMPD: Man attempts to kidnap 4-year-old boy

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Lisa Jakubowski thought it was weird seeing a man holding a toy truck while walking through her neighborhood.

“He waved to me, so I just waved back,” she said. “It’s a friendly neighborhood, we all wave back.”

As Jakubowski pulled into her driveway, her neighbors asked if she knew the man. After saying no, they told her he tried to take a little boy and were following him until police arrived.

Geoffry Jekanoski, 39, of 11721 Eros Rd. in Lehigh Acres, is charged with attempted kidnapping of a minor. He remained in the Lee County Jail on Tuesday, held on $100,000 bond.

Jekanoski is accused of attempting to lure a four-year-old boy from a driveway in the Sherwood Estates subdivision on Monday, police said.

A man told investigators he briefly went inside his home to drop off a package, and when he returned outside, Jekanoski had his hand on the child’s shoulder, police said. Jekanoski was also carrying a small, blue 4-wheel toy, police said.

“[Jekanoski] looked back at the complainant when he heard the garage door slam shut,” police said in a statement. “At this time, Jekanoski began to walk the child back toward the complainant’s residence. The complainant confronted Jekanoski and the two men had a brief conversation as the 4-year-old went back to his playmates. Jekanoski then walked away from the Silver Birch Way residence carrying the 4-wheeler toy.”

The man followed Jekanoski while contacting emergency dispatchers, police said.

Authorities found Jekanoski, who lives in the nearby Olympia Point subdivision, sitting on the sidewalk on the 8300 block of Silver Birch Way holding the toy, police said.

Jakubowski, the neighbor, was slightly shaken up by the incident.

“It is scary to think that he just thought easily, just walked up and had convinced the child or had a hold of the child, whatever the case was, to go with him,” she said. “He didn’t seem scared after he had been caught doing it, he just continued strolling through the neighborhood and waving at people.”