Burglaries push Naples community to be safer

People in a Naples community are concerned because of a similar theme where somebody goes into your home to shoot a video, to help, or sell your home, but when you get home all your valuables are gone.

Neighbors that spoke with WINK News said they hope the people doing this are caught and are definitely taking extra safety precautions to prevent it from happening to them.

Selma Nettles said she felt bad to hear of another robbing incident in Naples, but it’s not too surprising anymore.

“We have a lot of people in town that haven’t been here before people supporting the hurricane effort and not saying that they are responsible, but there’s a lot of people coming in to do work,” Nettles said.

On Wednesday Naples police said they responded to the incident on the 200th block of 6th Street North in Naples.

According to the report, the victim informed police after speaking with her realtor she was asked to allow a video crew to record her home for a real estate company’s website.

That morning she let them in her home, and when she came back and saw they were still there she left to let them work. But when she came back later that night she noticed items were moved or missing.

More than $100,000 worth of items were taken from her house.

Dirk Fischer is a broker in Naples and when WINK News started telling him what happened he said it raises serious red flags.

“If service provider contracts reached out to you, and tries to solicit business and tries to force the business onto people, this is always a red flag. So normally, good service providers, they are booked weeks in advance, they don’t have time on their hands at all. So if somebody is readily available, that’s a red flag to me,” Fischer said.

He said you should consider only working with people who have good references but also shouldn’t forget a few things.

“Never trust others with your belongings, always make sure they’re supervised. And if you don’t have the time, work hand in hand with your real estate professional and make sure that they are in charge and take care of everything,” Fischer said.

Nettles said she’s going to be extra careful in the future.

“The biggest thing is set your alarm. And even when it seems like you’re just running to the grocery store,” Nettles said.

Another neighbor on the street said he’s seen more unusual calls from people asking to sell his home but that they are actually from scammers.

Naples police have not yet made an arrest in the burglary.