It has been an alarming week for store owners in Fort Myers. Scary surveillance video shows a group of people repeatedly trying to break into stores.
Derek Lariche is the owner of the smoke and barber shop along Palm Beach Blvd in Fort Myers. On Friday, his ring camera captured multiple people smashing glass, looking to see what they can get their hands on, with their faces covered up by ski and clown masks.
"This is very frustrating at this point. Angry as for sure. I'm just waiting for waiting for something to happen. Waiting for something, you know, something to be done," Lariche said.
He said the situation is downright frustrating, as his store has been a target two times in the past week.
"It's not just like they broke in and stole anything. I don't even take the money out of the drawer. Like I said, you know, almost vandalized. At the same point, the whole front was destroyed. Smashed the display cases," Lariche added, with the windows alone costing more than $2,500 to repair.
"So that's not including the display case that was smashed. This case was messed up. Yeah, I'd probably say in damages. Probably $2,500 to $5,000, just depending on, you know, what else needs to be replaced," said Lariche.
He said it looked as if the suspects were teenagers. Lariche believes the video shows the same group of suspects repeatedly trying to get into other stores in the nearby area.
Store owner Greg Cerio at Cerio's Jewlery in Fort Myers said his store was also hit. Over the weekend, he caught the masked suspects on a camera in the middle of the night trying to break into the store by any means necessary.
"Four or five individuals with masks. That one's got that Terrifier mask on the white mask. The other one had a skull mask on. Same individuals on Cerio's video from a jewelry store," said Lariche.
Lariche has filed multiple police reports, hoping the police will eventually catch them. However, due to the multiple hits, he plans to close down the store and relocate.
"It's not just us, it's other stores, store next to us, you know, god forbid it goes to the next level and next thing you know, they're not breaking in and, you know, holding people up. I got to look out for people's safety at this point," Lariche said.
Greg Cerio is looking for the suspects responsible for attempting to steal from his store Cerio's Jewelry in Fort Myers on Cleveland and Colonial.
"It makes me sad. I just I'd like to see them get caught in, you know, get what they deserve," said store owner Greg Cerio.
Five determined burglars can be seen on a video trying to smash the front door and rip their way into the store.
"It's still a hit. But, you know, it could have been much worse," said Cerio.
This time, though, they couldn't get in thanks to the bulletproof doors. The video then shows them running away.
"You'll see in the video something spooked them, and they all started running really quickly around the building. We do have cameras all the way around the building. So, we caught all of that. And they ran over to this parking lot over here," said Cerio.
While Greg is grateful the suspects didn't get inside, he says the damage to the door and window can cost thousands of dollars to repair.
"You know, I'd be afraid of what they could do, you know, just smashing things and, you know, could have been much more expensive than it was," said Cerio.
The five suspects are masked, but Greg believes they are the same suspects behind the other break-ins in the area.
"The police told me that these five guys have done this before to other businesses and got away with it and did much. You know, they actually got inside and took, you know, a lot of things. So, you know, here they didn't but I know other places they did," said Cerio.
Cerio is asking anyone with information on the suspects to come forward and call FMPD.
"I know a lot of other store owners. They're shocked. They're really nervous, talking about sleeping in their stores at night. It really just it sends a really bad message," said Cerio.
If you have information in this case, contact Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS (8477), on the P3 app, or on its website . You can remain anonymous, and if your tip leads to an arrest, you may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $3,000.
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