Bears make themselves at home in vacant house, but they're poor housekeepers

Someone called the Collier County Sheriff's Office recently to report a burglary at a vacant house in Golden Gate Estates. A deputy found the house ransacked, the front door wide open, the suspects still in the front yard.

They were bears: A momma bear and her two cubs, to be exact, WINK-TV reports.

A next-door neighbor said the bears are frequent visitors.  "They're here daily," he said. "We're concerned. You know, we've had them look in our windows before when we're cooking, so we leave the windows cracked, we don't leave them wide open by any means. They've lost their fear of man."

And they're not very good housekeepers either.

"All the cabinets are emptied out,'' the neighbor said. "There's basically flour, food, everywhere. All over the floor."

The deputy waited for the bears to leave and then locked the door.

But soon the bears were back, WINK reports, going through the trash.

No word on whether the bears thought the place too hot, too cold or just right.

Lingerie thieves strike again; 250 thongs gone from Victoria's Secret

The Naples Daily News is reporting that 250 pairs of thong panties went missing over the weekend from a Victoria's Secret store at the Coastland Center Mall.  According to police, an employee noticed Saturday that four drawers of PINK extra-small thongs had been emptied.  The newspaper says this is the sixth major theft at the store since February.  In May, a store manager noticed a man leaving the store carrying a full bag and later discovered that 45 bras -- with a total value of $2,000 -- had disappeared.  In February, employees discovered that 65 bras -- worth a total of $3,000 -- were gone.  In September, "36 pairs" of something -- the newspaper doesn't specify what -- were stolen.

The story indicates that other area VS stores have also been targeted by thieves, including a store in Estero, where witnesses reported seeing a woman stuff 160 PINK brand bras into bags while employees were not looking.

Woman throws stroller at boyfriend

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) -- A Naples woman is behind bars after throwing an empty baby stroller at her boyfriend during a heated fight.

Police reports say 33-year-old Debra Hayes and her boyfriend, Kevin Kelly, were arguing at their home Sunday night. She then picked up an empty stroller and threw it at Kelly, cutting his lip.

Neighbor Edward Buck told The Associated Press that Hayes banged on his door and was hysterical. She told him she was worried for her baby. Buck says police have been repeatedly called to the couple's home.

Messages left for a Kevin Kelly in Naples were not immediately returned Monday.

Hayes is facing felony battery charges.

© 2008 The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Mom of the year

An Immokalee mother was jailed Monday for getting in a fight with a sixth grade safety patrol and goading her children to join the melee.

According to the Naples Daily News, Teshane Butler, who did not check in at the office first, went to Pinecrest Elementary School cafeteria to eat breakfast with her daughters who are in second grade, kindergarten and pre-kindergarten.

After breakfast, the 26-year old mother walked the girls to class. Butler, who frequently went to the school without permission and did not heed school rules, saw a safety patrol who took a picture of her the other week.

Butler grabbed the sixth-grade girl by the neck and told her youngest daughter to go through the patrol’s backpack to find the camera. Meanwhile, the other daughter stood by yelling profanities at the patrol.

Mystery of the traveling pants (and debit card) solved

Deputies found a stolen debit card in the pants of a Collier County teen who had been trespassing at a Wal-Mart on Monday, Naples Daily News reports. But the teen was not sure who owned the card. And he didn't know how the pants, which he found in his van, got there.

When deputies located card-owner Deborah Cahill, they were told that the missing card had been used to make several purchases. Cahill feared she may have left the card at Marsala Pizza over the weekend.

Deputies discovered that the teen worked at Marsala Pizza and later arrested him.

Man demands condom, gets stabbed and robbed

The Naples News informs us that Florentino Figueroa, 22, and an unidentified man left an Immokalee bar together early Sunday, for a quiet interlude in a dark area behind the tavern.  When the other man insisted that Figueroa use a condom, Figueroa got angry, pulled out a knife and stabbed the man in the chest.  Adding insult to injury, Figueroa then demanded money and took $3 from the victim.  Figueroa was arrested for armed robbery and aggravated battery.  Medics patched up the victim with a Band Aid.  You probably won't be shocked to learn that both men were intoxicated at the time, according to the Collier County Sheriff's Office.

Who is the “right guy” to punch? Not the cop

A 21-year-old Golden Gates resident not only punched the “wrong guy,” but that wrong guy was a cop, according to the Naples Daily News. Off-duty Naples police officer Ian R. Rudnick was leaving a bar/restaurant when a man approached him in the parking lot and punched him in the mouth. "That’s what you get for (messing) with us," Joseph Clay Johnson said, according to reports. Rudnick was surrounded by Johnson and three other men. But Rudnick had friends run to help him, too. Two of them also were off-duty cops.  When Rudnick showed Johnson his badge, Johnson told them "I’m sorry. I did not know you were a cop. I got the wrong guy." Johnson was charged with battery. No word on who the "right guy" was.

He kept the change

Authorities in Lee County have asked convenience stores to be on the lookout for someone using a lot of change to pay for everything. It seems that a man robbed a Regions Bank in Bonita Springs and got away with only change, no bills. He smashed in the front door and pried open all the cash drawers with a crowbar, the Naples Daily News reports. He tried the same thing at some other banks but left empty-handed.

The Great Marco Island Mustard Attack

In the wee hours of New Year's morning, a 30-year-old Marco Island man poured mustard on his ex-girlfriend and squirted a half-dozen people around her. The ex-girlfriend got a restraining order against him. The fellow apparently couldn't quell his enthusiasm. He drove past her home screaming loudly. That landed him in jail, then in court, the Naples Daily News reports, where he talked too loudly, made disruptive noises with his cell phone, and finally, interrupted the judge so much that his defense attorney admonished him saying, “Now who do you think will argue your case better, me or you?” The judge had enough and sent him to jail.

Veteran lies to get Prisoner of War state license plate

A 72-year-old veteran wanted a Florida Prisoner of War license plate so badly that he lied about being a former POW. A Collier County judge sentenced Raymond Gauthier to 90 days in jail Tuesday for possessing a phony form used to apply for a POW license plate and discount as a war veteran, the Naples Daily News reports. Gauthier had pleaded guilty in April of submitting a form listing bogus military awards and honors to get the plate from the state of Florida. He was sentenced to probation then, but was charged with violating probation when probation officers found another form during a routine search of his Brevard County home in May. That brought Tuesday's jail sentence.