Trio facing felony charges for mailbox bombs

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BONITA SPRINGS, Fla.- Three men facing felony charges for blowing up mailboxes in a Bonita Springs neighborhood appeared in court Thursday morning.

Allen Demler, 18, Hunter Bates, 18, and Alexander Dovi, 21, were released from jail after posting $15,000 bond.

“I hope they learn a lesson, I hope they realize what they did, and the consequences,” said Rick Behrens, one of the homeowners whose mailbox was destroyed. “They didn’t think about it before they did it, now they’re thinking about it right now.”

On Tuesday around 10 p.m., the Lee County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a suspicious car along Landau Lane and mailboxes being destroyed.

When authorities tracked down the car, deputies say Dovi and Bates admitted they were “driving around blowing up mailboxes using a chemical reaction.”

Inside the car there was a small container of rubbing alcohol and three bottles filled with a powder substance, later identified as chlorine, authorities said.

“Grow up,” Behrens said. “They did the wrong thing and they got caught and they are going to do time. I’m sure they are. This is a felony.”

Mailboxes are considered federal property and anyone who damages them can be punished for up to three years in prison.

The three men are expected back in court on May 2.

 

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