UPDATE JULY 22, 3:30AM:
The San Carlos Fire Dept. has clarified that they responded around midnight, rather than noon.
UPDATE JULY 21 - 10:00PM
Watch As Fort Myers Community Correspondent Anvar Ruziev reports from the gym where the scene unfolded:
A 25-year-old man was arrested after witnesses say he was refusing to leave a Fort Myers Planet Fitness at closing time, then undressing, crawling into the ceiling, and starting a fire in the bathroom.
Deputies say Henrry Antunez Avarado was asked to leave the gym on Tamiami Trail and Park Road around 10 p.m. Saturday after closing time. Instead of complying, he went into the women's locker room, undressed, and ran into the showers.
According to the police report, Antunez Avarado pulled a surveillance camera up into the attic with him near the female locker room and exposed himself in front of it. Surveillance footage also showed him performing similar actions on a hydro massage bed.
Witnesses say Antunez Avarado started a fire while in the attic. Deputies eventually found and arrested him completely naked in a tanning bed.
"Someone asks you 'I'll give you a million dollars to guess what happened at the gym today, you'd never guess that, you'd guess everything but that. You'd never think you come to the gym and something like that you'd see," said Benwood Pacouloute, a gym patron.
The gym was closed Sunday as employees worked on repairs and cleaning.
Antunez Avarado faces charges of indecent exposure, arson, property damage, and fraud for allegedly providing a false name to authorities.
His legal troubles increased after arrival at jail, where the sheriff's office says a body scanner revealed a foreign object in his pelvic area. He was transported to a hospital where a small brass pipe was removed, resulting in an additional charge of smuggling contraband.
UPDATE 10:50AM
The Lee County Sheriff's Office reports a naked man tried to burn the Planet Fitness on South Tamiami Trail, and was then found hiding in a tanning bed, Saturday.
Deputies said callers reported a naked man running through the gym, crawling into the ceiling, and trying to start a fire in the bathroom.
25-year-old Henrry Antunez-Avarado had been asked to leave the gym at closing time, when staff said he began acting "erratically," according to LCSO. Surveillance footage showed him sprinting through the building unclothed, entering multiple rooms, and even laying down naked on a hydro massage bed. At one point, Antunez-Avarado climbed into the ceiling, knocking down several tiles throughout the building, according to LCSO.
Deputies eventually found him hiding inside the tanning bed, and "a little sun-kissed" according to the department. He was arrested and charged with indecent exposure, arson, criminal mischief, and providing false identification to law enforcement.
This wasn’t his first run-in with the law, according to LCSO. Antunez-Avarado was also convicted in 2023 for attempted burglary, trespassing, and loitering/prowling.
UPDATE 8:30AM:
The San Carlos Fire Department adds that their crews were called around noon to this location on that same Saturday. There, they said they found a small trash pile fire in the women’s restroom which had been extinguished. Crews remained on-scene to ventilate smoke from the building, hours before LCSO then responded to the break-in.
Fox 4 found the scene closed for maintenance, Monday morning.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
The Lee County Sheriff's Office confirms it is investigating a break-in at a Planet Fitness at San Carlos Park, over the weekend.
Deputies tell Fox 4 that they were called about a suspicious person inside of the closed business shortly after 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 19 at 18011 South Tamiami Trail. The office said the suspect was arrested on multiple felony charges.
No injuries are reported, according to LCSO.
When our crew arrived Monday morning, the facility was closed for maintenance.
Fox 4 expects to be able to update this article with more information, later today.
