2 men accused of burglarizing evacuated properties post-Hurricane Milton

Two men have been arrested in Charlotte County for taking the belongings of residents who evacuated due to Hurricane Milton.

Charlotte County residents heeded the warning to evacuate their homes for safety prior to Hurricane Milton; however, some returned to find their homes broken into and their possessions stolen.

Charlotte County residents in zones A, B, and C were told to evacuate due to Hurricane Milton, which was approaching.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of residents evacuated to stay safe from the storm.

For some Charlotte County residents, they returned to find that their homes had been burglarized.

On Oct. 8, an Englewood resident left her home on Beach Rd. and returned on Oct. 14 to find her front window had been broken with a fire extinguisher and the front door unlocked.

Deputies responded and cleared the home, finding jewelry, tools, a generator, a laptop and a black backpack missing. They also discovered a safe broken open and an open can of soup left on the counter.

A suspect, later identified as Nelson J. Saylor, who was a person of interest in a separate Englewood burglary, was stopped near the Englewood Walmart on Oct. 17.

When deputies confronted Nelson with their findings, he claimed that his boat had been sinking during the storm, so he swam to shore and stayed with a friend whom he knew and had left a note for. Nelson was placed under arrest in connection to the burglary on Beach Rd. and a burglary in the area of Sand Dollar Ln.

On Oct. 17, deputies also arrested a suspect, later identified as Robert Lamothe.

After Milton had passed, deputies said Lamothe entered Hideaway self-storage at 835 Tamiami Trail, where he entered a storage unit and stole over $2,000 worth of items while the business was without power or security footage. Several items, including Airpods and an Apple watch, were reported missing.

Lamothe had started selling the items on Facebook Marketplace. The victim, doing his own investigation, discovered his AirPods for sale.

The victim arranged to purchase them and contacted CCSO to be there when the seller arrived. The serial number confirmed that the AirPods belonged to the victim, and Lamothe was placed under arrest.

Sheriff Bill Prummell said, “I would first off like to thank my deputies for bringing these cases to a quick close so these individuals could be brought to justice, and the families can move forward. It makes me sick to think that people who headed the warnings and evacuated for their safety, returned to this unnecessary stress. To take advantage of someone during a state of emergency is simply despicable, and I hope these two take time to think about that behind bars.”