FORT MYERS, Fla. — A records request uncovered increasing crime rates in one part of Fort Myers.
Fort Myers Police told us that investigating the Travelodge hotel located on South Cleveland Avenue is the area they've become concerned about.
There is important content to the FMPD confirming the trespassing trend we discovered near Cleveland Ave's Travelodge through a records request.
Fort Myers Police confirmed the information found is said to be connected to nightly hotel rates dropping because we're no longer in tourist and snowbird season.
FMPD told us that crime is at its lowest in the city, and that the hotel has the highest volumes of calls. Those calls include trespassing and breach of the peace, which include noise complaints and threatening other people.
According to police, when snowbirds leave, the nightly room rates drop, allowing people who may be homeless able to afford a room.
Wednesday, we checked the nightly rate and it was $53. A homeless advocate we spoke with traced this to people dealing with the housing crisis.
"I don’t want to peg them but they are the ones who are in need of a place for shelter," said Ramona Miller, Founder of The Voice and the Willingness Empowerment Center. "When they do get in there they are getting high, they are getting drunk, then we begin to see behaviors that will result in the breach of peace."
We have reached out to the hotel multiple times for comment and they declined.
We also asked about solutions as we examined what is going on inside the hotel. What does trespassing mean? We also spoke with someone who stayed at the hotel and they explained what it's like.
