Lee County Sheriff investigates crash injuring pedestrian at University VillageGunshots heard in a Cape Coral neighborhood
Lee County Sheriff investigates crash injuring pedestrian at University Village The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a crash that injured a pedestrian at the University Village Shops in Lee County.
CAPE CORAL Gunshots heard in a Cape Coral neighborhood Neighbors have reported hearing multiple gunshots in the early hours of the morning in Cape Coral.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Tracking the Tropics: Patty forms in North Atlantic, tracking Caribbean development An area in the Southwestern Caribbean has a high, 80% chance of developing over the upcoming week.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Warm weekend with spotty showers, daylight saving time ends tonight The Weather Authority says Saturday is starting nice and dry with some passing clouds and pleasant conditions.
WINK NEWS SWFL Scoreboard: High School Football Week 11 The Lehigh Lightning beat the Sarasota Sailors in a Monday night matchup to earn their first win of the season in week 11.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man files injunction against city over Jaycee Park A Cape Coral man has filed an injunction against the City of Cape Coral over the renovation of Jaycee Park.
CAPE CORAL Brothers gain highest Boy Scout award for repairing food pantry General Manager of the Adventist Community Services Alexandra Berru said she couldn’t be more grateful for the twin brothers.
2 Vietnam veterans raise $20,000 for monument in Naples Two Vietnam veterans raised over $20,000 to create a Vietnam monument at Cambier Park in Naples.
BONITA SPRINGS Lee County to pick up debris on Estero and Hickory boulevards After three weeks of hard work clearing mountains of sand from Estero and Hickory boulevards, Lee County crews are ready to switch gears to storm debris collection along these main county roads.
SANIBEL Are our habitats on the brink of a slow collapse? For two years, Sanibel Island’s delicate ecosystems have been battered by unrelenting storm surges, leaving behind dead trees and tainted freshwater pools.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres driver wants more safety measures for State Road 82 A Lehigh Acres man wants other drivers to know to pay attention. He also wants the county, city or state to put some more patrols out here.
SANIBEL What beaches are experiencing red tide issues now? Parts of Southewst Florida are dealing with red tide. But it’s not impacting Sanibel or beachgoers there.
NAPLES Naples Police Department begins celebrations of 100 years of service The City of Naples Police Department will hit 100 years of service in November of 2025, and they are now beginning their year of celebrations.
ESTERO FGCU students and professor weigh in on upcoming election As the nation gears up for a pivotal election, a question lingers among young voters. Will students turn out to vote?
New procedure helping disc pain Neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain and arm pain can all be caused by a herniated disc. If left untreated, this can become debilitating and lead to nerve damage.
Lee County Sheriff investigates crash injuring pedestrian at University Village The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a crash that injured a pedestrian at the University Village Shops in Lee County.
CAPE CORAL Gunshots heard in a Cape Coral neighborhood Neighbors have reported hearing multiple gunshots in the early hours of the morning in Cape Coral.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Tracking the Tropics: Patty forms in North Atlantic, tracking Caribbean development An area in the Southwestern Caribbean has a high, 80% chance of developing over the upcoming week.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA Warm weekend with spotty showers, daylight saving time ends tonight The Weather Authority says Saturday is starting nice and dry with some passing clouds and pleasant conditions.
WINK NEWS SWFL Scoreboard: High School Football Week 11 The Lehigh Lightning beat the Sarasota Sailors in a Monday night matchup to earn their first win of the season in week 11.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral man files injunction against city over Jaycee Park A Cape Coral man has filed an injunction against the City of Cape Coral over the renovation of Jaycee Park.
CAPE CORAL Brothers gain highest Boy Scout award for repairing food pantry General Manager of the Adventist Community Services Alexandra Berru said she couldn’t be more grateful for the twin brothers.
2 Vietnam veterans raise $20,000 for monument in Naples Two Vietnam veterans raised over $20,000 to create a Vietnam monument at Cambier Park in Naples.
BONITA SPRINGS Lee County to pick up debris on Estero and Hickory boulevards After three weeks of hard work clearing mountains of sand from Estero and Hickory boulevards, Lee County crews are ready to switch gears to storm debris collection along these main county roads.
SANIBEL Are our habitats on the brink of a slow collapse? For two years, Sanibel Island’s delicate ecosystems have been battered by unrelenting storm surges, leaving behind dead trees and tainted freshwater pools.
LEHIGH ACRES Lehigh Acres driver wants more safety measures for State Road 82 A Lehigh Acres man wants other drivers to know to pay attention. He also wants the county, city or state to put some more patrols out here.
SANIBEL What beaches are experiencing red tide issues now? Parts of Southewst Florida are dealing with red tide. But it’s not impacting Sanibel or beachgoers there.
NAPLES Naples Police Department begins celebrations of 100 years of service The City of Naples Police Department will hit 100 years of service in November of 2025, and they are now beginning their year of celebrations.
ESTERO FGCU students and professor weigh in on upcoming election As the nation gears up for a pivotal election, a question lingers among young voters. Will students turn out to vote?
New procedure helping disc pain Neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain and arm pain can all be caused by a herniated disc. If left untreated, this can become debilitating and lead to nerve damage.
Peaches Stergo, left, leaves Manhattan federal court, Thursday, July 27, 2023, in New York after she was sentenced to more than four years in prison for cheating an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor of $2.8 million. Stergo met him on a dating website seven years ago. Prosecutors say the 36-year-old Champions Gate, Florida, resident used the money to live lavishly. (AP Photo/Larry Neumeister) A Florida woman who drained an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor’s life savings by posing as a love interest and then lived lavishly off the $2.8 million she got was sentenced Thursday to over four years in prison. Peaches Stergo, 36, of Champions Gate, Florida, was described by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos as “unspeakably cruel” and motivated by greed as he announced the sentence in Manhattan federal court. Given a chance to speak, Stergo said: “I’m sorry.” She pleaded guilty in April to wire fraud, admitting that she drained the life savings of a man she met on a dating website seven years ago. Stergo began asking the once-successful businessman for money in May 2017, claiming she needed money to pay a lawyer who was refusing to release the payout from a bogus injury settlement, prosecutors said. He paid her $25,000. Over the next four years, she used lies to coax the man to write 62 checks totaling over $2.8 million until he was broke, they added. She got him to send as much as $50,000 at a time as she told desperate lies and faked letters from a bank employee to back up her claims, prosecutors said. They said Stergo traveled to New York to visit the victim in his Manhattan apartment, falsely claiming she was a Florida nanny and her name was “Alice” and failing to reveal that she was in a long-term relationship with another man and had two children. As the victim lost his life savings and was forced to surrender his apartment, Stergo used his money to live a life of luxury, traveling on expensive trips to Europe and Las Vegas when she wasn’t living in her gated community or using her boat and numerous cars, including a Corvette and a Suburban, prosecutors said. They said she spent nearly all of the man’s money, including thousands of dollars for expensive meals, gold coins and bars, jewelry, Rolex watches and designer clothing. As part of her sentence, she faces a $2.8 restitution and forfeiture order. “Peaches Stergo callously defrauded an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who was simply looking for companionship,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “But she did not get away with it. As today’s sentence demonstrates, perpetrators of romance scams will be held to account for their crimes.” Prosecutors said Stergo had mocked her victim when she told her real lover in a message that the victim had said he “loved” her. They said she followed that message with “lol.” And they said that when he ran out of money, she convinced him to sell his inventory of diamonds and borrow from others. Prosecutors did not identify the victim, but they said he suffers from cognitive decline, among other health issues, and is frail. In a letter to the judge, the victim, who was 6 when he lost both of his parents in the Holocaust and who moved to the United States in his early 20s, wrote: “As a Holocaust survivor, I have endured unspeakable pain and loss in my life, but never did I imagine that I would be subjected to such a heartless betrayal in my old age.” Stergo’s lawyer, Ann Marie Fitz, wrote in a sentencing submission that Stergo is a partner to her long-time boyfriend and mother to two teenage boys and that her boyfriend describes her as a great mother and a born-again Christian. “She is not the cold-hearted person the government and media have made her out to be,” the lawyer wrote. “There was a genuine, caring relationship that Ms. Stergo had with the victim in this case — she spent holidays with him, she took care of him when he was ill and, as the victim’s cousin described, she was ‘doting’ on him.”