Vandal Hits Matlacha Businesses (UPDATE)

MATLACHA, Fla. Joshua Michael Cohoon, of Matlacha was arrested and charged with one count of burglary, with no bond. Cohoon is also charged with three counts of damage of property and criminal mischief of $1000 or more and one count of damage property-criminal mischief of $200 or more and a single count of larceny. Bond for these charges were set at $20,750. Cohoon's next court appearance is scheduled for 8:30 A.M. on August 15, 2018.

MATLACHA, Fla. Two houses and a few businesses sustained various degrees of damage, during the evening of July 16th.

Surveillance cameras caught a half-naked teen smashing the windows and glass in the door of several businesses in Matlacha, causing several thousand dollars in damage.

The video shows a 19-year-old male carrying what looked to be a gun. As he walked by the businesses he used the back of the firearm to shatter windows and doors at CW Fudge Factory and The Perfect Cup cafe on Pine Island Road.
Olde Fish House Restaurant and Marina also reported having damage when they showed up for work on Monday, July 17, 2017.

Pine Island resident, Doug Bywater an employee at Perfect Cub Coffee Shop was in the area that night. He received a text message from a friend saying someone was in his backyard making noise and trying to break into his boat.

Bywater went to his friend’s house to check it out. “I went in the front door where glass and blood was all over the floors and walls. Not sure if anyone was hurt I went down the hall into the second room. I saw a teenage male inside breaking glass and anything else that got into his way. He was also saying he was going to kill himself.

I stepped into the room, he saw me and he pulled the gun up. I rushed him and grabbed the gun knocking him to the ground. We wrestled on the glass ‘till I took the weapon away from him.

He then ran from the house yelling he was going to kill himself, I chased him down then we ended up back at the house where he was hiding. I got a phone from one of the neighbors and called the Lee County Sheriff’s Department.”

The Sheriff’s Department came and searched the house and didn’t find him. They later found him in the backyard hiding under a boat trailer; he was arrested and the Lee County Sheriff’s Department said that this is an active investigation and will keep the public informed.

Perfect Cup and CW Fudge Factory still have not been able to get their windows and doors fixed.