CAPE CORAL, Fla. — It’s a busy time for Tony Lucibello who makes a living preparing people’s taxes. And now it’s even harder to get to work, since someone vandalized his van, shattering the windshield and several windows this weekend.
“Now I only have this power wheelchair,” said Lucibello. “To go to work I have to drive up about a mile and a half and then come back a mile and half.”
Lucibello’s lived in East Cape Coral for 25 years and hasn’t seen anything like this.
“I thought this place was safe. I guess my van was in the wrong spot at the wrong time,” he said.
He said luckily police were able to catch the suspect in the act. They released body camera video of the arrest Tuesday.
“Let me see your hands. Let me see your hands,” one officer said in the footage.
Allan Kolak with Cape Coral Police said they arrested 20-year-old Demetre Gatteny for the burglary and he wasn’t in his right mind when they found him.
“Due to the fact that he was under the influence could have sparked the reasoning behind what he was doing,” said Kolak
Lucibello said he thinks the man responsible used bricks from his garden to break into the van. That’s because he found several inside when he went to see what was missing.
Besides the manual wheelchair Gatteny attempted to steal, Lucibello said he hasn’t noticed anything else missing yet, but said he’s still in shock that this happened to him.
“I was surprised why he would pick my van in a well lit area, rather than take a side street where it’s dark,” he said.
He added he feels a little better knowing the police were able to catch the man who did this and he plans to get his van fixed soon.
