lehigh acres LCSO: Man shot by car owner protecting property The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shooting in Lehigh Acres early Saturday morning.
NORTH FORT MYERS Lee County residents wait hours for D-SNAP assistance The supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) is at the Lee Civic Center all weekend, ready to help southwest Florida.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA First eaglet hatches in famous SWFL eagle nest Welcome E24! The third eaglet from the nest of M15 and F23 has hatched according to the Southwest Florida eagle camera.
Rock for Equality: SWFL non-profit hosts benefit concert for Palestine A Southwest Florida non-profit hosted a benefit concert on Friday night to help with humanitarian aid in Palestine.
Warm, breezy Saturday with a few showers possible The Weather Authority is forecasting a breezy, warm weekend in store across Southwest Florida, with the chance of a few showers, particularly on Saturday.
CAPE CORAL Active investigation underway in South Cape Coral Cape Coral police are investigating at a home on Southwest 49th Terrace in South Cape Coral early Saturday morning.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
FORT MYERS Black Flag brings classic punk energy to The Ranch in Fort Myers Legendary punk band Black Flag made their mark in Southwest Florida during the Fort Myers stop of their “First Four Years” tour.
lehigh acres LCSO: Man shot by car owner protecting property The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shooting in Lehigh Acres early Saturday morning.
NORTH FORT MYERS Lee County residents wait hours for D-SNAP assistance The supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) is at the Lee Civic Center all weekend, ready to help southwest Florida.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA First eaglet hatches in famous SWFL eagle nest Welcome E24! The third eaglet from the nest of M15 and F23 has hatched according to the Southwest Florida eagle camera.
Rock for Equality: SWFL non-profit hosts benefit concert for Palestine A Southwest Florida non-profit hosted a benefit concert on Friday night to help with humanitarian aid in Palestine.
Warm, breezy Saturday with a few showers possible The Weather Authority is forecasting a breezy, warm weekend in store across Southwest Florida, with the chance of a few showers, particularly on Saturday.
CAPE CORAL Active investigation underway in South Cape Coral Cape Coral police are investigating at a home on Southwest 49th Terrace in South Cape Coral early Saturday morning.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
NORTH NAPLES Grant Thornton Invitational returns to Tiburon Golf Club Stars on the PGA and LPGA Tours are back in Southwest Florida for the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club.
FORT MYERS Black Flag brings classic punk energy to The Ranch in Fort Myers Legendary punk band Black Flag made their mark in Southwest Florida during the Fort Myers stop of their “First Four Years” tour.
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.