North Fort Myers woman gets some of her gnomes back as man arrested

Shawn Haines of North Fort Myers has been reunited with 13 of her stolen garden gnomes after deputies arrested a man in connection with the theft.

Haines, who has been collecting gnomes for over 30 years, said about 25 of her figurines were stolen. Five days after the theft, she received a text from detectives working the case.

"He told me how he has a man in custody, and then he started sending me some pictures of some gnomes," Haines said.

Later that day, deputies returned about half of the missing gnomes to Haines' home.

"Having them come home, I just felt like a kid at Christmas," Haines said.

Since the story first aired, three people have donated gnomes to Haines to help rebuild her collection.

Haines said the emotional return brought her to tears. She said she is extremely grateful for the help from the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies recovered 13 of the roughly 25 missing gnomes and arrested a man.

When asked why the gnomes were taken, Haines said the suspect told deputies, "The gentleman said that they were a good luck charm to him, that he felt they needed to be fixed up, cleaned up, repainted. He just felt that they were crying for help."

Now reunited with many of her gnomes, Haines is looking forward to painting them with her granddaughter.

"It just makes me feel so relieved that, that's the kind of world we are living in," said Celeste Holder, Haines' granddaughter.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office has yet to confirm the identity of the man arrested, but officials are expected to release his name soon.

When asked about the future of the gnome collection, Haines said, "Yeah, with an electric fence and a football field light."