Naples Park man admits drug use prior to burglaries

NAPLES PARK, Fla. — A 40-year-old man admitted he drank and did cocaine to work up the courage to commit burglaries, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said.

Jason Woodbury, of 537 N. 101st Ave., was arrested Friday and is accused of breaking into several cars near his home and stealing hundreds of dollars worth of items inside them. He traded what he stole for crack cocaine, according to deputies.

A 12-volt lithium drill valued between $200 and $250 is among the items he’s accused of stealing from the cars on Roma Court. But he parlayed that — along with small cash, a radar detector, fishing poles, and other goods — into only about $50 worth of crack, deputies said.

He also took a priceless memento, according to one of the victims.

“It was a gift from my daughter when she got married, and it was something that was precious to me that I know meant nothing to him,” said Andrew Delong, whose truck was among those burglarized.

Delong had left his truck unlocked.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time I lock my truck,” Delong said. “I was carrying something, so I didn’t reach into my pocket to push the button.”

He feels nonetheless violated and laments the role alcohol and drugs apparently played in the affair.

“When they’re in that state they don’t care, they don’t care about anybody,” Delong said. “They don’t care even about themselves. They don’t care about their own family, their children, their lives, and they destroy themselves and others in the process.”

 

Residents of the neighborhood have rarely had reason to be concerned about crime, said Harry Henderson, who lives nearby.

“It’s generally been a very quiet street, and so we’ve never really worried about that type of thing too much,” he said.

But it’s not the first go-around for Woodbury, a convicted felon who was involved in a similar string of burglaries in 2014. He’s in custody on $30,000 bond facing three burglary charges, two grand theft charges and one petty theft charge.

Surveillance footage appears to show him entering one of the cars in the most recent burglaries: