Posted: 5:56 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1, 2013
Gated 55+ retirement community targeted by burglars
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
A gated retirement community inOrange County has become the target of thieves.
Over the past few weeks, senior citizens have had their homes burglarized.
The spike in crime is happening at the Gulfstream Harbor Solstice community off Goldenrod and Hoffner roads in east Orange County.
All of the victims are elderly and
Deputies say thieves are taking full advantage of that.
They said despite it being a gated community, criminals are still making their way in.
Delia Bond's home is the latest to be burglarized in the past three weeks.
"They're not stupid, they took the good jewelry," Bond said.
Bond said she and her husband came home at midnight and interrupted the
"I've been invaded; my home. I didn't sleep all night thinking they were going to come back," Bond said.
She's not alone.
Residents at the 55-plus neighborhood are on alert.
Many have installed home security
About 150 residents attended a town hall meeting last week looking for answers and to offer suggestions to deter crime.
One of
The management said
One resident who didn't want to be
The front gates off Goldenrod Road are guarded by residents. Their job is to let people in and record people who don't have a sticker on their car.
The consensus among the seniors is the brazen burglars know the area well.
One key piece of evidence is a handprint left in the getaway Saturday night.
Over the past few weeks, senior citizens have had their homes burglarized.
The spike in crime is happening at the Gulfstream Harbor Solstice community off Goldenrod and Hoffner roads in east Orange County.
All of the victims are elderly and
Deputies say thieves are taking full advantage of that.
They said despite it being a gated community, criminals are still making their way in.
Delia Bond's home is the latest to be burglarized in the past three weeks.
"They're not stupid, they took the good jewelry," Bond said.
Bond said she and her husband came home at midnight and interrupted the
"I've been invaded; my home. I didn't sleep all night thinking they were going to come back," Bond said.
She's not alone.
Residents at the 55-plus neighborhood are on alert.
Many have installed home security
About 150 residents attended a town hall meeting last week looking for answers and to offer suggestions to deter crime.
One of
The management said
One resident who didn't want to be
The front gates off Goldenrod Road are guarded by residents. Their job is to let people in and record people who don't have a sticker on their car.
The consensus among the seniors is the brazen burglars know the area well.
One key piece of evidence is a handprint left in the getaway Saturday night.
5 comments:
"Are we next indeed". I just saw this news article on another TV station this morning and the scene looked like what we here at Fairway's could become. It's been more than two weeks since the gate has been fixed even tho our community Manager said it would be taken care of in the next day or two. That was a week ago. Hometown doesn't give a hoot about our security or anything else in this community that doesn't make a buck for them. Maybe we need to call the TV stations and have them out here once again to bring our issues to the public, and maybe Chicago. I wonder if Chicago even knows what goes on in this community???
What a shame! We have got to get a guard at the "GATE"! Maybe calling on T.V. stations would get the ball rolling.
I didn't see the reports on the news myself, but maybe if someone who did call that stations reporter to add to his story.
Doesn't hurt to try.
This post should serve as a warning to all residents. I noted the resident comment toward the end of the story. ''they know the area well''. With all of the open public traffic to the tavern ,golf course pool parties and sing clubs,--it just gives the riff raff and others an opportunity to ''case'' our community!---NOT TO MENTION OUR CURRENT AND OFTEN BROKEN GATES
It wouldn't be hard for any criminal (even the ones living in here already) to know what scheduled functions are planned. Just look at the bulletin board or look at the parking lot when we have planned functions. They had guards at the gate, so was it an outside or inside job? You can try and keep the riff raff out but what about the ones already living here. If we ever get good security or at least passes on the cars, HTA needs a survey of who is in what home. If the people had to sign up at the office and have a security sticker on their vehicle, that might show HTA who is really inside our park.
Everyday there's no "GATE "when I come home from work. And now with the speed bumps, feels like I'm just coming into a trailer park. What has happened to my nice gated community?
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