Seven golf carts stolen

When Aaron Diaz walked from his Seabreeze Court home on Monday morning he immediately saw his golf cart was gone. It wasn’t the first time it happened, and his instincts led him to the beach where, coincidentally, he found his cart one morning two years ago.

Unfortunately, his instincts were right.

Diaz wasn’t the only one to report a stolen golf cart during the last week, and now local deputies are adjusting their shift schedules to focus on the hours when most of the thefts seem to be occurring.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office reported seven golf carts were stolen between Sunday, March 2 and Tuesday, March 4. Many of them ended up in the gulf or on the beach with damage.

“I’m estimating over $1,000 in damage,” Diaz said. “And this was the second time it’s happened. Two years ago, in late May or June, the same thing happened, and that was $2,000 in damage.”

John Sheehan, a public information officer for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, said that deputies will be keeping a close eye on certain locations around the island.

“They’re going to be working around the time frames that these thefts are happening in, and instead of reacting they will be proactive in capturing somebody in the act,” he said. “We believe it to be spring breakers who are doing this … it happens every year at this time.”

Sheehan said it would be a good idea for those who own or rent carts to take the keys out when not in use, to make sure the cart is as secure as possible and that no valuables are in the cart, to park in spots that won’t be as visible to people driving by and to have a good way to identify their cart, preferably through a serial number.

“There’s really no method to it, no trends,” Sheehan said. “Most of the carts were found on the beach at the range light, but they were stolen from a variety of locations.”