Man accused of attempted burglary while nude in Fort Myers; covers head with white clothCape Coral man accused of breaking into 6 different businesses
FORT MYERS Man accused of attempted burglary while nude in Fort Myers; covers head with white cloth The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man who stands accused of attempted burglary while wearing nothing but a white cloth over his head.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man accused of breaking into 6 different businesses A man has been arrested after allegedly breaking into six different businesses in Southeast Cape Coral this month.
COLLIER COUNTY DOH-Collier issues blue-green algae health alert for Lake Avalon It’s official: the Florida Department of Health in Collier County (DOH-Collier) has issued a health alert for the presence of harmful blue-green algae toxins in Lake Avalon.
lehigh acres 20 students treated for heat exhaustion on Lehigh Sr. High School football field The Tice Fire Department treated around 20 students for heat exhaustion on the Lehigh Senior High School football field.
PORT CHARLOTTE Market Circle on Enterprise Drive in Charlotte County to be closed for road work A portion of Enterprise Drive will be closed temporarily for road work along the mill and overlay on Market Circle in Charlotte County.
Tim Aten Knows: Collier details road projects in Estates Design of the Randall Boulevard widening and Randall-Immokalee Road intersection project in Golden Gate Estates began in mid-2022, but construction is not expected to start for another two years.
FGCU hosts emergency disaster drill training Florida Gulf Coast University is more ready than ever after hosting an emergency disaster drill training to educate students on how first responders prepare for crises.
the weather authority Few showers along a front moving through this Friday afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a cold front dropping temperatures along with a few afternoon showers this Friday.
the weather authority Tracking Tropical Storm Sara; likely to dissipate over Central America The Weather Authority is monitoring Tropical Storm Sara, which is expected to strengthen slightly before dissipation over Central America.
NAPLES “Don’t give up. You’re worth it. God sees you.” St. Matthew’s graduates speak out Susan and Dustin Cheatwood credit the Justin’s Place recovery program for saving their lives and stopping them from becoming a statistic.
ENGLEWOOD EAST FEMA relocation notice shocks mobile home park residents The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued relocation notices to residents living in one of their temporary housing parks in Englewood East.
Six dogs rescued after being left in a box by SR-29 Six dogs, including four puppies and two adult dogs, were found stranded in an empty box on the corner of Experimental Road and State Road 29 in Immokalee.
FORT MYERS Players of the Week: Dunbar’s Ken’Dahrius Green and Jeremy Ware Dunbar High School’s Special Teams unit has shown out these past two weeks, scoring a special teams touchdown in wins over South Fort Myers and Fort Myers.
NAPLES Collier County golfer lands shot on the back of an alligator “Play it safe.” That’s what Greg Irving thought he may be doing when he swung his puck Wednesday morning while golfing with his friend Joe Pack.
PUNTA GORDA Southwest Florida veterans honored during round trip honor flight Veterans from Southwest Florida made a round trip to Washington, DC, and back in honor of their service.
FORT MYERS Man accused of attempted burglary while nude in Fort Myers; covers head with white cloth The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man who stands accused of attempted burglary while wearing nothing but a white cloth over his head.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man accused of breaking into 6 different businesses A man has been arrested after allegedly breaking into six different businesses in Southeast Cape Coral this month.
COLLIER COUNTY DOH-Collier issues blue-green algae health alert for Lake Avalon It’s official: the Florida Department of Health in Collier County (DOH-Collier) has issued a health alert for the presence of harmful blue-green algae toxins in Lake Avalon.
lehigh acres 20 students treated for heat exhaustion on Lehigh Sr. High School football field The Tice Fire Department treated around 20 students for heat exhaustion on the Lehigh Senior High School football field.
PORT CHARLOTTE Market Circle on Enterprise Drive in Charlotte County to be closed for road work A portion of Enterprise Drive will be closed temporarily for road work along the mill and overlay on Market Circle in Charlotte County.
Tim Aten Knows: Collier details road projects in Estates Design of the Randall Boulevard widening and Randall-Immokalee Road intersection project in Golden Gate Estates began in mid-2022, but construction is not expected to start for another two years.
FGCU hosts emergency disaster drill training Florida Gulf Coast University is more ready than ever after hosting an emergency disaster drill training to educate students on how first responders prepare for crises.
the weather authority Few showers along a front moving through this Friday afternoon The Weather Authority is tracking a cold front dropping temperatures along with a few afternoon showers this Friday.
the weather authority Tracking Tropical Storm Sara; likely to dissipate over Central America The Weather Authority is monitoring Tropical Storm Sara, which is expected to strengthen slightly before dissipation over Central America.
NAPLES “Don’t give up. You’re worth it. God sees you.” St. Matthew’s graduates speak out Susan and Dustin Cheatwood credit the Justin’s Place recovery program for saving their lives and stopping them from becoming a statistic.
ENGLEWOOD EAST FEMA relocation notice shocks mobile home park residents The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued relocation notices to residents living in one of their temporary housing parks in Englewood East.
Six dogs rescued after being left in a box by SR-29 Six dogs, including four puppies and two adult dogs, were found stranded in an empty box on the corner of Experimental Road and State Road 29 in Immokalee.
FORT MYERS Players of the Week: Dunbar’s Ken’Dahrius Green and Jeremy Ware Dunbar High School’s Special Teams unit has shown out these past two weeks, scoring a special teams touchdown in wins over South Fort Myers and Fort Myers.
NAPLES Collier County golfer lands shot on the back of an alligator “Play it safe.” That’s what Greg Irving thought he may be doing when he swung his puck Wednesday morning while golfing with his friend Joe Pack.
PUNTA GORDA Southwest Florida veterans honored during round trip honor flight Veterans from Southwest Florida made a round trip to Washington, DC, and back in honor of their service.
CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Sometimes the search for Mr., or Mrs. Right, can go horribly wrong. No one knows that better than Mia. Mia’s accused stalker is currently in Lee County jail and awaiting trial, after the two met online. Mia, 41, said she met the man on an online dating site. She said the relationship escalated quickly and she asked the man to move to Cape Coral from his home in Illinois. “In the beginning, he told me everything I wanted to hear,” Mia said. Do you really know who you’re dating? Mia (see below) didn’t. She met “Mr. Right,” online, but her fairy tale became a nightmare when she found out about his violent past. TONIGHT AT SIX, I show you the free steps you can take, to protect yourself.*NOTE: Mia has asked us to hide her face. Posted by Sam Smink WINK News on Thursday, February 11, 2016 Their relationship quickly took a turn for the worse shortly after the man moved in with Mia. The man was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender. She called it quits. “I was horrified and petrified,” Mia said. “I never expected that I would even be seeing him again. Before I knew it, he was back on the street and at my doorstep.” Mia said the man was released from jail and began to harass her. She got as many as 70 messages from the man daily. In those texts, he detailed how if he could not have her no one could. “His behavior was erratic and scary. Life was very scary. I was living in fear,” Mia said. “I was a prisoner in my own home.” Mia would discover more disturbing details about the man she once loved, at his court hearing for the stalking arrest. Turns out, the man had a long criminal past of domestic violence in Illinois. “The list continued and it continued and it continued. I wanted to vomit,” Mia said. Mia, a former law enforcement worker, said she had never thought to check into the man’s background. “It’s very easy, when you are single for so long, to want to trust your heart and believe in somebody. I went with my heart, instead of my head, and it was a huge mistake,” she said. In the United States, 25 percent of couples meet online, but many sites do not conduct background checks on their members. There are many free ways to get information about a person: the federal inmate locator, the Florida Department of Corrections website, and clerk of courts’websites, if the person’s first, last name and county of residence is known. Officials say, do not be afraid to ask for this information. The first two sites will bring up information about whether the person was ever in prison. On clerk of court websites, you can find things like criminal history and traffic tickets. Most states also have sex offender search websites. For more thorough and wider searches, hiring a private investigator is also an option. Keith Perry of ARQC Investigations said he can find out a lot of information about a person. “I get their background, vehicles, when they live, if they have foreclosures, judgments, liens, restraining orders, I get everything,” Perry said. Perry said he can get driver’s license information and even neighbor’s numbers. People use his services to check on people they meet online or in person, Perry said. He said for a small fee, people can avoid an experience like Mia’s. “For $45, it can save you a lot of trouble down the road,” Perry said. As For Mia, she said she won’t blindsided ever again. She plans on spending time and money looking into any future partner’s background. Dating sites like eHarmony, Match, JDate and Christian Mingle screen for sexual assault and identity theft conviction, but a lot of other states do not do background checks. Some states require a dating website to include that information so users know whether they will need to do their own homework. If you want to do your own homework, here’s a list of local/state websites that can help: Lee County Clerk of Courts, for criminal background, financials, etc. http://www.leeclerk.org/ Collier County Clerk of Courts: https://www.collierclerk.com/ Charlotte County Clerk of Courts: http://www.co.charlotte.fl.us/Default.aspx FDLE Florida Sex Offender Search: http://bit.ly/1o4j6F9 Federal Inmate Locator: http://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ Google Image Search: https://images.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl Lee County Property Appraiser: http://www.leepa.org/ Florida Department of Corrections: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ For background checks out of state, try to learn the city or county that person is from, and look up their county clerk’s site. A private investigator, like Keith Perry, can also get nationwide searches done easily. Keith Perry is at ARQC Investigations, and can be reached at 239-253-1180.