Suspicious Events in Roberts Island

Neighborhood Watch members,

There has definitely been some suspicious things going on by the homes in Robert’s Island (off LMJ Rd near Story’s Ford Rd.)  Their block captain Tracey wrote up the details below that a neighbor just reported.  We are checking with the Sheriff’s dept to look into the tags for us. Let’s hope that the red Prius seen in the middle of the day may have just been someone looking to buy one of the foreclosed homes and checking out the neighborhood.   But the two cars driving around at 3:30 at night were definitely up to no good.    Keep your eyes open and your guard up  – these people are looking for an easy target!

Also from our Capri block captain:  Two weeks ago there was a “glowing” white truck that turned on to Capri coming from LMJ Rd.  . The guy was driving slow and looking at houses not addresses. Someone followed him and stopped him down by Roxanne and asked what he was doing out here was he lost. He said he didn't speak English. So the person says 'Hey man nice truck' & he replies 'Yeah Thanks'. (So much for not speaking English.)   Driver was a Hispanic Male mid-late 20's  in a Ford F-250 'Lightning' stark white (and I mean almost glowing white)  tag# HD1 3BF

We had the tag checked and it’s NOT a valid tag!

I will be sending out a recap from our neighborhood watch meeting.  We are waiting to get a copy of the slideshow for our website.  We had over 100 people attend and the responses I got back were very good.  Block Captains are still sending me updates – so our list is not complete yet.  School is out now – so I should get the list updated over the weekend and will forward this info out to any new members.  In the meantime – talk with your neighbors!

Definitely keep your eyes open!  Summer is here and people are taking vacations.  Please talk with your neighbors and your block captains if you are going out of town!  And definitely keep your eyes open for suspicious cars and suspicious behavior! 

Suzanne Arnold

Neighborhood Watch Coordinator

Subject: Roberts Island Information

Wed evening (May 8^th) at about 9:30 PM, a resident of Roberts Island Road reported that she saw an older model pickup truck leaving a vacant home.  It was backing out of the driveway.  I spoke to the owner and he had no knowledge of anyone being there.

At 3:30 AM (May 9^th) Thurs morning, that same resident reported seeing a Honda Accord or Toyota looking car, dark grey or black circling the neighborhood 4 times.  She went out into the street in her PJ's armed with a flashlight and cell phone to discover another car parked two driveways away.  There was also a man was walking up and down Roberts Island Road.  She confronted him asking him what he was doing walking around the neighborhood at 3:30 AM and he acted belligerent using curse words and asking if it was illegal to be there.  This man was in his late 20's, approximately 6' tall, short moppy or bushy hair wearing shorts and a t-shirt.  This car was a Red Volvo-older model Tag # 711-HYZ?  (we are verifying the tag # because the resident was at work when I called her and didn't have the tag # with her but thought this might be the correct #.)  She reported this incident to the police immediately afterward and is not aware of whether or not they came out to investigate.

I checked my camera recordings this morning and saw the profile of the car that was circling the neighborhood recorded at 3:36 AM and again at 3:43 AM. 

Incidentally, I stopped at the vacant house today Thursday at 12:32 PM and quickly looked into the garage window and front door to see if it looked like someone had been in there and noticed a vehicle with the same profile driving by slowly.  I immediately left to follow it and took photos and got the plate number.  This man was in his mid to late 40's and was driving around in this red Prius, license plate 585-5FA Florida with the driver's window down. 

Meeting Tuesday, May 24th

LMJ NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH Meeting

Tuesday May 24^th at 6:30 pm

Isle of Pines Neighborhood Park

From Moss Park Rd – go about 1 mile past Isle of Pines sign on right.

Across from Flo Rd on the left.  If you get to Nell – you went too far.

EVERYONE Invited

Meet our Neighborhood Watch Deputy, get updates on crime in our area,

learn how to report crimes vs. suspicious issues, and learn safety tips.

I will also have Car Window Decals available  (.50 donation per sticker please)

(No rain in the forecast – but if for some reason it’s raining – we will reschedule to Thursday.)

Hope to see you there!

Suzanne Arnold

Neighborhood Watch Coordinator

Ps – Block Captains – please wear you hats so neighbors will know who you are.

Car Burglary

Hello LMJ Neighborhood Watch members (and a lot of new members added to our list recently!)

I was hoping that the next message I would be sending out would just be a reminder about our big Neighborhood Watch meeting next Tues May 24^th at 6:30 pm at the Isle of Pines South Beach Park (on Lake Mary Jane Rd on the right just past Flo Rd – and just before you get to Nell.) 

Unfortunately we had another car burglary a few weeks ago – and the message was in my junk mail and I came across it last night and got more details this morning.  (see below) 

Car Burglary on Bayonne 

We had some friends over Saturday 4/29 and they left around 1:20am after they left my husband and I went upstairs to go to bed, my husband took a shower and then remembered he left our hallway light on when he went to look out the window he saw his interior light was on in his truck he went running downstairs when he discovered his truck was broken into.

Earlier that day he had played golf and completely forgot to take out his golf stuff in addition to his softball stuff.  With that said the robbers managed to unlock his back passenger door without setting the alarm off (which was facing our house and the window so they were very brave) and took all his golf clubs, bag and everything inside in addition to his softball bag, two gloves and 9 softball bats which were all over $300.00 a piece, some lose change he had in his center console and $50.00 winning lotto scratch off tickets (they moved super fast to get all that stuff in a matter of 15 minutes).  I immediately called 911.  

 Also that night is there was a very nice gentleman who stopped by our house in a white Dodge Durango who said he was driving into the neighborhood to come home and notice a teal truck driving very slow down Lake Mary Jane, he then turned around to follow it and said the truck started driving extremely fast, he that he had him cornered in Live Oaks but the truck manged to drive through the ditch and get away, he said he followed him to 417 before he lost him, then he had seen the cop turn at our house and so he came over to talk to us.  I cannot remember his name but he said his wife's car had been broken into awhile back.

Special thanks to our neighbor who took the time to stop.  If you can email me with a better description of the truck it would help.

BLOCK CAPTAINS – Thanks to so many of you that have been able to get out to greet your neighbors.  A strong community is the BEST defense against crime!  Sorry about the delays in assigning captains, I had a VERY difficult time dividing up a few of the streets like LMJ Rd & Marine, plus we have added a few new block captains to the area, and I currently have 3 block captains on Flo, Sheba & Bray, dealing with VERY sick family members.  

(If anyone else wants to help pass out flyers this week to those streets – just let me know.) 

 Remember – Block Captains are NOT cops and are not supposed to be out on the streets chasing down criminals.  They are simply supposed to help gather information so we can share with the community.

Neighborhood Watch Members – please keep an eye out for each other and get the TAG numbers on suspicious vehicles.  Call  or email your block captains during normal daytime hours – or email me with information.

Remember – I will not send out separate emails for small incidents, or lost & found items – but I can try to tag them on to other messages like the ones below:’

We have a 24 or 26 inch bike that was found on Nell – contact Steve at 407-781-9945 if you are missing one and can give him the description. 

We also had the Fishman’s Goose statue (about 50 lbs) stolen from their yard the same night as the car burglary.  Tani said she will pay a ransom or reward  - it’s been in their family for 20 yrs.

Keep your eyes open – the car burglary’s are still going on!

Suzanne Arnold

LMJ Neighborhood Watch Coordinator

Watch For Your Block Captains!

Hello LMJ Neighborhood Watch members,

Your Block Captains met a few weeks ago to prepare for our next level of our Neighborhood Watch program.  For the past 3 yrs we have done everything by email – and we have 380 homes out of 565 participating.  But we want to make sure that EVERY home in our community is aware of our program, and knows about the recent crimes.  

We want EVERYONE to have the opportunity to join up – and we also want our current members to have a local contact for their street.  I am so impressed by our community – we have over 40 residents that have stepped up to volunteer to help with this process.  Most streets have block captains, and we also have volunteers that are helping to spread the word to streets that did not have a block captain to make sure that EVERYONE is aware of our Watch Program if they would like to participate.  

Please remember – Block Captains are NOT Police Officers!  Our  Watch Program helps us spread the word so we can all be more aware of what is going on in our community and hopefully make it more difficult so that the thieves will get caught or go elsewhere.

Block Captains going door to door with DECALS

Our Block Captains and volunteers will be knocking on doors over the next few weeks.  They have a bright yellow hat with “LMJ NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH” on the hat – so you will know who they are.  They are YOUR neighbors - Please Welcome them and Thank them for their time!  They will be introducing themselves and checking to make sure we have correct contact information and signing up new members.  

As residents suggested at our meeting in March, we have ordered “LMJ” window decals to represent the Lake Mary Jane Community that we all live in.  This will help as we are looking for suspicious vehicles and can recognize  our own residents’ vehicles.  We did not want the decal to say “Neighborhood Watch” because we don’t want to send out the message that we have a crime problem since crime is normally rare out here.  Instead – most of our residents will be proud to have a “local” decal that just has “LMJ” for our Lake Mary Jane rural settlement community that we are ALL part of.  

There are 2 types of decals – one goes on the inside of your car – but we found that it doesn’t show well on tinted windows – so you can also use them on boats, motorcycle windshields, golf carts, or even on a front window in your home.  We ordered more stickers to go on the outside of cars with tinted windows.  We are asking residents to put one of these decals on your back window in the upper right corner. 

DONATIONS

We have spent almost $800 on these decals, plus money on the block captains hats and signs for our meetings.  We looked into the option of grant money – but it takes months to get the funding and only covers 25% of the members.  So I have put the purchases on my credit card – and have faith that our residents will help chip in to cover the expenses.  The block captains will be giving out these window decals and asking for a minimum donation of 50 cents per decal – but I’m hoping that residents will be willing to donate $5 - $10 per household.  If we cover all the current expenses, then any extra money we collect will be used to purchase additional items as decided by our Neighborhood Watch member suggestions. 

Watch Updates

Thanks to all of you for helping to keep your eyes open!  There are still some very suspicious things happening out here – such as a Red Kia Spectra that was parked at the dead end of Capri overnight last week – and it had the tail lights spray painted black so you couldn’t see it at night from behind.  The police got involved and by lunch time residents saw 3 Hispanic men and one Afro American man come out of the woods.  The cops were called again and they found the car driving on Narcoossee Rd.  The 4 men told the police that they were camping (on private property?)  If you see this car out here again – call the police.   There were also 3 break-ins recently in NorthShore where they broke into the condos by either kicking down doors or breaking windows.  These break-ins were during the day. 

Don’t let your guard down!

Suzanne Arnold

LMJ Neighborhood Watch

"The Block Captains Are Coming!"

Your LMJ Neighborhood Watch Block Captains met on Wednesday evening, April 13th, 2011, at the Isle Of Pines Pavilion with Orange County Sheriff's Office Deputy Carlos Jimenez.  Deputy Jimenez and LMJ Neighborhood Watch Coordinator, Suzanne Arnold, provided preliminary instructions and guidance for our volunteer block captains who will be personally introducing themselves to each of your households in the next few weeks to come.

Our efforts are to raise awareness in our neighborhoods.  A more informed neighborhood is a safer neighborhood.  So, stay tuned and look forward to meeting your block captains.

LMJ Block Captain Myrtlewood Drive - Jeff Wahlen

Deputy Carlos Jimenez

LMJ Neighborhood Watch Coordinator Suzanne Arnold

Volunteer LMJ Neighborhood Watch Block Captains

LMJ Block Captains

LMJ Block Captains

LMJ Block Captains

LMJ Block Captains

OC Sherriff's Deputy Carlos Jimenez

Map Time

Home Security Yard Sign

Just a suggestion...

More incidents of theft...

LMJ Neighborhood Watch,

There have been several more incidents reported this past week. 

When returning home from a spring break vacation, one of the families in Roberts Island found that their 12 ft white trailer full of construction equipment was stolen!  The trailer had been parked behind a neighbor’s house out of view (the neighbor had given them permission to park it there since no one is currently living at the home.)  The trailer was turned the other direction, had a massive lock on it, and all the tires were chained.  The only thing they found at the location was one of the chains cleanly cut.  There is a neighbor that noticed a dark blue pickup truck with a white trailer speeding out of the neighborhood on Wed March 30^th around 7:30 pm (a stormy night.)  This incident is Grand Theft since the contents were between 18 – 20K.  If you have any info on this – please report it immediately!

The other two incidents were small – but show that there are still crimes occurring.  In Live Oak on the night of Sat March 26 someone went into an unlocked car in Live Oak.  Luckily there was nothing to take other than a work badge, but the door of the car was left open and the console was left open as well.  There was a large staghorn fern stolen out of someone’s yard the week before. 

Share this information with your neighbors in case they are not getting our emails.

Please keep your guard up and your eyes open. 

Thanks,

Suzanne Arnold

LMJ Neighborhood Watch

Ps – the following streets have volunteers for block captains.  If your street is not listed – I encourage you to volunteer – the duties are simple.  If you have questions about block captain responsibilities – let me know.

 

LMJ

Augustine

Bayonne

Conifer

Conifer

Desilu

Desilu

Fernway

Fernway

Henson

Henson

Lacebark

Lamont

Marine

Marine

Nell

Roxanne

Winterset

Winterset

LMJ

LMJ

LMJ Shores

Arbor Glen

Bramble Bush

Gray Birch

Gray Birch

Mastwood

Rambling Oak

Oakwood Cove

Roberts Island

Roberts Island

Bray

Fresno

Marine

Sheba

LMJ Shores

Myrtlewood