WINK News

Watch Now

Florida is a hotbed for human trafficking. We’re in the top three in the country for the number of cases, yet most people wouldn’t know it if they walked right by it.

In just days, a new human trafficking law takes full effect. Its goal: to spot human trafficking and rescue victims.

Savannah Parvu had a painful, unimaginable childhood.

“I started being sexually abused by a neighbor around the age of five,” she said.

“My dad had a stroke that left him disabled when I was nine, and after that, my mom got involved in more drugs.”

Then her mom started selling her body for drugs, Parvu said, and eventually, “there was a time when I was 11 that her drug dealer offered a $10 piece of crack for me instead of for her.”

That’s when the human trafficking started.

“Sometimes they would take me to hotels. We went to one hotel a lot, and at that hotel, the staff there were friends with my trafficker, and so he would take me and leave me there and the staff would open up the door and let people in.”

See the full interview with Savannah Parvu:

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.

The U.S. government is getting ready to crack down on any businesses pedaling phony COVID-19 vaccines.

The Better Business Bureau is warning the public about the possible sale of fake COVID-19 vaccines. And the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is working with companies currently developing the vaccine to stop the sale of counterfeit vaccines, according to the BBB.

Scammers may promise the vaccine, but the government is setting up who gets the vaccine and when they get it. Most of that information isn’t available to the public yet.

Scammers will try to get your information in two ways; They could offer the vaccine from a fake company that requires personal information to sign you up or send an email with a link containing malware. That can expose your information to hackers.

Here are a few things you can do to protect yourself:

  • Verify fundraising campaigns
  • Be wary of emails from fake government websites
  • And never give personal information to a caller if you didn’t make the call

MORE: Beware of Fraudulent Coronavirus Tests, Vaccines and Treatments, FDA says 

MORE: FTC, FDA Send Warning Letters to Seven Companies about Unsupported Claims that Products Can Treat or Prevent Coronavirus

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.

A veteran in need of help is living in extremely untidy conditions in Southwest Florida — a yard and home spilling over with junk and things he doesn’t use, with multiple code violations and calls to the region’s largest city.

On his bike rides, veteran Ted Illjes sees broken down cars, old appliances and broken down furniture all at a home in Cape Coral.

“It’s a vast improvement from what it was,” Illjes said.

It all belongs to veteran John Wahl.

“I’m a collector and an environmentalist,” Wahl said. “I’m not a hoarder.”

Wahl is also a Vietnam veteran, who suffers from PTSD. He made it clear to us he’s not interested in clearing the junk away.

“It’s a mess back there, but it’s none of their damn business,” Wahl said. “I want to get out of Cape Coral. I call it ‘Cape Russia.’”

Cape Coral code enforcement has a long history with Wahl. He’s already been fined more than $5,000. In response, he put up a fence.

“With these strokes, I can’t remember nothing,” Wahl explained. “I carry keys around my neck. I have two cats. I don’t have nobody to help me.”

Frank Ramos is a fellow veteran. He stopped by to offer his help, but Wahl wasn’t home. He left his card and hopes Wahl will call him back.

“Because he’s a veteran, especially a veteran,” Ramos said. “If he’s by himself, he needs some help of somebody else to come and get him.”

Illjes and his wife want to organize a group to help Wahl clean up.

“The vets, we like to stick together,” Illes said.

Wahl told us he will accept help from his fellow veterans.

“I think that’s very, very nice,” Wahl said.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.

The U.S. Postal Service is overwhelmed by a record number of holiday shipments while they have fewer employees. It’s an issue across the country, and people in Southwest Florida are experiencing it first hand.

At Cape Coral’s busiest post office, the Christmas shopping rush is on. Long lines are the rule, not the exception.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s about an hour wait. Luckily I did mine online,” said Gary Burke.

Alan Steele said he learned his lesson years ago.

“My wife, she ships packages and it’s quite a while in line but not this bad. I’m not waiting in that.”

Over at the USPS Page Field location, the front lobby is also busy. Customer Relations Coordinator Robert Rhoad said if you’re looking to avoid the wait time, come after hours and take advantage of the self-service kiosk.

“It’s just like an ATM. You can punch in the address and it leaves your package in, you print out a label and then you can dump it inside of the dropbox.”

The Post Office is particularly challenged this holiday season because they expect a record number of packages to ship and they have fewer carriers because of the surge in COVID-19 cases.

You’ll want to ship sooner rather than later to make sure gifts get to their recipients in time.

“Get them out as soon as possible. The faster we get them, the more likely we are to get them before Christmas,” Rhoad said.

The Post Office says its deadline for getting those holiday packages and cards to their destinations on time is Friday, Dec. 18. After that, expect to pay extra to guarantee delivery before Christmas.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.

Thursday, Dec. 17, will be the long-awaited grand opening of the Aldi grocery store in Estero.

The village’s first store for the discount grocer opens at 9 a.m. at 19951 S. Tamiami Trail, just north of Walmart at Estero Parkway.

The new 22,000-square-foot store will be open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. To “rent” a grocery cart you’ll need a quarter, which is returned when you return the cart.

You’ll also have to bring or buy grocery bags because the chain does not supply bags or baggers. Complimentary boxes are available, though.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.

Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a robbery at Stamatis Family Restaurant in North Fort Myers Wednesday.

According to LCSO, deputies were dispatched after reports of a Hispanic male wielding a knife, wearing a red bandana and a blue backpack, who went into a restaurant and demanded money.

Witnesses told deputies the man ran away from the restaurant.

Barry Stull is a regular customer at the restaurant. He could not believe crime scene tape and deputies surrounded the door of the restaurant an hour before he showed up to sit down and eat.

“I just heard when I arrived that they were robbed, and I’m shocked that would happen because they are not a major restaurant; although, I guess people get desperate,” Stull said. “Glad that nobody was hurt because it could’ve ended up violent.”

Cynthia Vitagliano says she has been to Stamatis a few times. She couldn’t believe someone would hurt the business when many are already fighting to survive.

“That’s just like a little neighborhood restaurant, you know. It’s weird. I was kind of shocked,” Vitagliano said. “We got enough going on with this pandemic and everything else, so it’s just scary.”

Those who work at the restaurant told us they did not want to comment. They wanted to get back to business.

“It’s Christmas time, people are supposed to be helping each other,” Vitagliano said.

Anyone with information can contact SWFL Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477).

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.

We saw several dead fish in the area of Lighthouse Beach Park on Sanibel Wednesday, but they are being quickly cleaned up off the beach.

A group on the island provides the data needed to forecast the irritation beachgoers might face due to red tide.

“We want people to be able to go to the beach safely and to not avoid the beach when they could go,” said Rick Stumpf, a NOAA Oceanographer.

That’s why the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) forecasts respiratory irritation from red tide.

NOAA is a group funding the tool and researching to make it better.

“That funding is going into helping GCOOS to develop this new website and distribute this capability for improved monitoring, bringing in citizens, citizen volunteers, and also to forecast respiratory irritation,” Stumpf said.

On the island, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation shares data that’s combined with wind forecast and satellite imagery to alert beachgoers of potential discomfort.

It’s thanks in part to a GCOOS HABscope, which uses facial recognition technology to find red tide cells.

“If it was just our beaches we had data for, then, people would — they’d want to select another beach, and they don’t know what other beaches to go to,” said Richard Bartleson, a research scientist with SCCF. “If we have more HABscopes along more beaches, then, that would give them an opportunity to pick a different beach.”

To check out the respiratory forecast tool, visit the HABscope Forecasts page on the GCOOS website. It includes more than 20 beaches along the Gulf Coast.

NOTE: The tool HABscope is not an official forecast. Location and timing of irritation can unexpectedly change.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.

This weekly WINK News segment features fugitives from justice right here in Southwest Florida.

This is your chance to help out the community and give the tip that gets these people off the street. These suspects need to be found – and you can help. If you have seen them, reach out to Crime Stoppers or your local law enforcement. Call 1-800-780-TIPS (8477).

Here are three fugitives wanted by Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers.

Morales

[CAPTURED] Christopher Morales (DOB 6/9/88) – Wanted in Lee County for violation of probation for grand theft and uttering a false instrument.

Law enforcement said he had been living rent-free with his employer for six months when he up and seemingly disappeared.

The next day, his former boss discovered his laptop and other personal property were missing, as was a cash deposit that Morales picked up for him from a customer. Soon after, the victim/ex-boss discovered that Morales had stolen several checks from his business account and made them payable to himself to the tune of several thousand dollars over the course of five days.

Morales has three local bookings for burglary, grand theft, and failure to pay child support.

He is 6’0”, 196 pounds and has several tattoos, including praying hands with his last name on his left arm and a totem pole on his right arm. Upon his arrest, he will be held without bond.

Panossian

[CAPTURED]Justin Panossian (DOB 11/1/83) – Wanted in Lee County for violation of probation for burglary of an occupied dwelling. This warrant stems from an incident when he broke into a friend’s home and stole cash.

He’s a repeat offender with 11 bookings on his rap sheet on charges of burglary, theft, the possession of cocaine, dealing in stolen property, and fraud. He was sentenced to a year and a half in state prison, and just got out in June, and is already on the fast track for a return trip.

He is known to have gang affiliations and has a record of violent tendencies. He is 6’0”, 205 pounds and is known on the streets as Iceman.

He’s obviously got a large collection of tattoos, including a teardrop under his left eye, a dollar sign and the name Kaylee on his face, loyalty on his right hand and an 8 ball on his left hand. He was last known to be living in North Fort Myers.

Fuller

Dwayne Fuller (DOB 3/18/00) – Wanted in Lee County on a bench warrant for failure to appear on a charge of battery on a law enforcement officer and obstruction.

His current situation started when he came to the beck and call of a relative who was being arrested. Fuller became verbally and physically combative with deputies, which was exacerbated by the fact that other family members were trying to pull Fuller away from the grasp of officers. At the end of the day, Fuller ended up in jail for resisting.

After being released on bond, Fuller was supposed to show up for a court hearing on his case, which he has failed to do. To date, he has six bookings in Lee and Collier County for battery, resisting and armed burglary.

When he was in middle school, he was charged with a felony when he called in a bomb threat for a school bus. He later admitted to the crime and said he did it because he thought it would be funny.

He is 5’9”, 165 pounds and was last known to be living in Lehigh. Upon his arrest, he will be held without bond.

Suspects wanted in copper theft.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is still searching for a vehicle suspected of being involved in a recent theft of nearly $100,000 worth of copper pipes.

According to the sheriff’s office, a driver in a pickup truck pulling a trailer was caught on camera by a nearby business after stealing a trailer-load of copper pipes from the WINK transmitter site in Charlotte County.

The theft happened overnight at the site between July 23 and 24 on State Road 31, just north of Cook Brown Road.

After cutting a gate, the thieves loaded up 62 copper pipes that were 25 feet in length and weighed about 100 lbs. each.

The suspect vehicle is being identified as an early 2000s blue Dodge Dakota.

Thieves also stole 12,000 feet of copper wire from streetlight control boxes on SR-82 near Columbus Boulevard in Lehigh Acres between August 3 and August 7. That copper is valued at $30,000. If you have information on this crime, you can call Crime Stoppers at the number below. You may be eligible for an additional $1,000 reward.

If you have a tip on the whereabouts of any of these wanted suspects contact Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers. All callers will remain anonymous and will be eligible for a cash reward of up to $3,000.

Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers
1-800-780-TIPS (8477) or
southwestfloridacrimestoppers.com

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.

Harriet, Southwest Florida’s famous bald eagle, has laid an egg Wednesday afternoon in North Fort Myers.

On the SWFL Eagle Cam hosted by Dick Pritchett Real Estate, the egg can be seen. It was laid at approx. 4:59 p.m., and that time is being verified.

The typical time for incubation is about 35 days.

It’s unusually late for Harriet to lay her first egg as they typically hatch between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Watch the SWFL Eagle Cam here on YouTube or below:

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.

A suspect who Collier County deputies say stole over $117,000 in construction equipment used a relative’s keypad code to get in to the storage lot where the equipment was being kept.

Rusty Williams, 39, of Golden Gate Estates, is charged with grand theft over $100,000. He is a registered convicted felon out of Florida, arrest records show.

According to the sheriff’s office, the victim told detectives he parked his 2019 16-foot black tandem axle enclosed trailer in a secured, fenced and gated storage lot off Exchange Avenue on Dec. 10. When he returned the next day, the trailer was missing.

The trailer contained heavy-duty construction equipment including a shop blast machine, grinder, blades, hydraulic concrete shaver, chipping hammers, and chisels. The total value of the trailer and equipment was estimated at $117,600.

Detectives reviewed security video which showed a white Ford E-350 van stop outside the gate shortly before 8 p.m. Dec. 10. The van driver entered a code into the keypad that opened the gate. About 10 minutes later, the van left towing the victim’s trailer full of equipment. The van had a large scrape along the driver’s side and a rectangular sticker in the lower portion of the back left door.

Detectives say the code used to open the gate belonged to a relative of Williams, and that he drove a white E-350 van that matched the description of the suspect van. Williams also matched the description of the van driver on the security video.

The stolen trailer was found outside the Walmart at 3451 US-41 East in East Naples. Nearly all of the heavy-duty equipment was recovered.

The CCSO says Williams admitted to stealing the trailer. He remains in the Collier County Jail.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.