SWFL NowVERIFIED NEWS. LOCAL IMPACT.83°F in Cape Coral,Sunny · Cape Coral
The Southwest Florida stories that are too local, too early or too ongoing for the evening news.
A Cape Coral man has been arrested and is accused of drawing a swastika on a sign for U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, WINK News reports. Reports say the sign was a reserved parking sign outside the Lee County Tax Collector's office in Cape Coral and was marked on Election Day.
Source: WINK News and 1 more
Fort Myers police on Monday arrested a 19-year-old Fort Myers man, Rolando Velasquez-Castro, accused of spray-painting three limestone columns at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, the 1933 former post office downtown. He is charged with criminal mischief involving historic property, a third-degree felony, and police say surveillance footage led to the arrest. Conservators say the porous stone needs careful treatment so the paint isn't pushed deeper; no cost or timeline has been given.
Source: WGCU and 1 more
Lee County Sheriff's Office detectives arrested Noah Lils Alcantara on a charge of aggravated child abuse after a 9-day-old was brought to a children's hospital on Oct. 31 with severe breathing trouble. Deputies say doctors found injuries consistent with violent shaking. The infant remained hospitalized in critical but stable condition, WINK reported.
Source: Gulf Coast News and 2 more
Someone spray-painted the exterior limestone columns of the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, the 1930s former post office at 2301 First Street in downtown Fort Myers, the center said in an Oct. 31 post. Because the historic stone is fragile, the paint can't simply be covered or scrubbed off, and the center is working with the city, which owns the building, and restoration professionals. No one has been identified as responsible.
Source: The News-Press (via Yahoo News)
Lee County deputies arrested Leonardo Rivera, 28, on Oct. 22 at an I-75 rest area near Daniels Parkway, according to an arrest report cited by WINK News. He is charged with luring or enticing a child younger than 14. No details of the alleged incident have been released, and he remained in custody.
Source: WINK News
A task force that included Cape Coral police arrested Dominic Octavious Cichini in Lehigh Acres in connection with the Oct. 22 road rage shooting in the 800 block of Santa Barbara Boulevard that left two people hurt. He is charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm and one count of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
Source: WINK News and 1 more
Lee County deputies and the Florida Gaming Control Commission served search warrants Oct. 27 at five arcades in Fort Myers, North Fort Myers and Bonita Springs and at a home in Pennsylvania. Ten people were arrested on charges that include racketeering conspiracy, keeping a gambling house and money laundering, and officials seized 239 illegal slot machines and about $1.59 million in cash, gold and frozen bank accounts.
Source: Lee County Sheriff's Office via WINK News and 2 more
One person died in a fire at a home on Parrot Place in North Fort Myers around 3 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, according to the North Fort Myers Fire Department. The Lee County Sheriff's Office says the investigation is active, and officials have not released a cause or identified the person who died.
Source: WINK News and 1 more
A school bus crash around 6:12 a.m. Monday closed all lanes of Tice Street near Country Lakes Drive, in front of Manatee Elementary and Oak Hammock Middle schools in Fort Myers. The Lee County Sheriff's Office says no students were hurt; it confirmed other injuries in the crash but gave no details. While deputies worked the scene, one deputy was hit by a vehicle and taken to a hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening.
Source: WINK News and 1 more
A contractor working at the Walmart on Six Mile Cypress Parkway in Fort Myers was shocked around 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, and flown to a burn center in Bradenton. Power went out in about half the store and shoppers were told to leave; South Trail Fire responded and FPL crews were on site. Walmart says the worker was not one of its employees, and the contractor's condition has not been released.
Source: WINK News and 1 more
A driver who fled a Florida Highway Patrol speeding stop near State Road 82 and Gun Club Road Friday night bit a trooper's arm and ran off on foot after troopers ended the chase with a PIT maneuver, WINK News reports. The trooper was treated at a hospital. FHP says it found trafficking amounts of meth and cocaine plus a gun in the BMW, has identified the driver and is seeking a warrant on charges including battery on an officer.
Source: WINK News and 1 more
Fort Myers police arrested a driver on a DUI charge after spotting a vehicle going the wrong way near Fowler Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Police said the driver's blood alcohol level was nearly twice Florida's legal limit.
Source: WINK News and 1 more
Two people riding in the same vehicle were hurt, neither seriously, when someone fired at them during a road rage confrontation on Santa Barbara Boulevard in Cape Coral on Oct. 22. Police said the shooter was still at large and asked anyone who saw it to call the Cape Coral Police Department at 239-574-3223.
Source: WINK News and 1 more
Lee County Judge Bruce Kyle on Oct. 19 granted a new trial to Anastasiya Zadorozhna, whom a jury convicted in August of vehicular homicide in a July 2024 crash on Pine Island Road that killed a 52-year-old man. Her attorney argued that the prosecution's only eyewitness, a co-defendant, misled jurors about his own plea deal. A status hearing is set for Oct. 29; no date has been set for the new trial.
Source: WINK News
Frederick Taylor, 38, of North Fort Myers was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison after pleading guilty in March to distributing methamphetamine, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida said. Prosecutors said he ran the operation in the Palmona Park neighborhood through lower-level dealers and sold nearly a pound of meth to an FBI informant. A search of his home turned up several guns and about $12,000 in cash.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office and 1 more
A pedestrian died Monday after being hit by a driver who did not stop at Colonial Boulevard and Plantation Road, Fort Myers police said. Lanes in both directions were shut for several hours before reopening. Police have not identified the victim or described the vehicle.
Source: WINK News and 2 more
Cape Coral police say two registered sex offenders living at a halfway house on Northwest First Place were arrested Oct. 12 and charged with violating probation by having internet-capable phones. The investigation began after a fellow resident reported that one of the men was viewing child sexual abuse material; detectives seized several devices and say more charges may follow. The men, identified by police as William Plumley, 29, and Enrico Mendes Jr., 49, are due in court Nov. 9.
Source: WINK News and 2 more
A vehicle drove into Mel's Diner on Trails Edge Boulevard in Bonita Springs around midday Sunday, Oct. 18. The Lee County Sheriff's Office confirmed the crash and said the driver was transported, and a patron told WINK News she saw people being treated for injuries. The cause and the number of people hurt have not been confirmed.
Source: WINK News and 1 more
