After breaking into Sterlin Misener Jr.’s home and binding his wife with plastic ties, two young men wearing black masks aimed a gun at the 44-year-old on a late October night and ordered him to his garage.
Their demands — drugs and money, or Misener and his wife, Erika, were going to be sorry, according to Collier County Sheriff’s Office reports.
No shots were fired during the invasion, the second burglary at the home in six months, and deputies arrested three of the four alleged robbers that night after receiving a 911 call from the Miseners’ teenage sons.
One week ago, another teen may have been attempting a third burglary at the Miseners’ home at 91 Willoughby Drive in the Willoughby Acres subdivision in North Naples, though that attempt didn’t end with the alleged burglar’s arrest.
Instead, around 4 a.m. on March 20, Misener shot and killed 19-year-old Patrick Hutchison with a sawed-off shotgun after reports say he caught the teen exiting the family’s camper parked in the driveway.
A week after his death, it is still unclear what, exactly, Hutchison was doing on Misener’s property or in his trailer.
Sterlin Misener hasn’t been charged with a crime, though the Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the shooting.
What is clear, according to sheriff’s reports from the two burglaries at the Misener home prior to the shooting, is that in both attempts the people involved believed that they would be able to steal large amounts of marijuana from the house.
One teen called the Miseners’ home a “grow house,” while one of the burglars in each case told authorities that he previously had seen pot inside.
Sheriff’s investigators say they’ve investigated the allegations, and have found no evidence to back the claims.
“Our investigation thus far has revealed nothing that would lead us to believe that this residence is being used to grow marijuana or otherwise traffic in illegal drugs,” sheriff’s Capt. Chris Roberts said in an e-mail to the Daily News.
Friends and neighbors of the Miseners don’t buy the allegations either.
“It is not a drug house or a house in which drugs are sold,” Misener’s Naples attorney, Jerry Berry, said. “I have no idea why people start rumors, but there is absolutely no evidence to support the rumors. The Sheriff’s Office has investigated this and found no evidence to support the rumors.”
Several neighbors described Sterlin Misener, a handyman, as a “gentleman” who is “straight as an arrow,” though most declined to be interviewed for this story.
Chris Smith, who has lived on Willoughby Drive for 10 years, described Sterlin Misener as a “stand-up guy” who waves hello to his neighbors and smiles a lot.
“This guy would give you the shirt off his back,” Smith said. “He’s a good neighbor.”
Inhabited by working families and kids of all ages, Smith likened living on Willoughby Drive to living in “Mayberry,” the friendly, fictional community from “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Crime isn’t a problem on the street, he said.
“His house is like the only house that ever had a problem,” Smith said of Misener.
Though the Sheriff’s Office reported last week that it had 22 visits to the Misener home in the past five years, Roberts said that number is misleading. Several of the contacts seem to be related to each other, he said, and only six generated incident reports.
Those six incidents include a burglary on May 5, 2008, a criminal mischief call on Oct. 22, 2008, and the home invasion three days later.
According to reports, on May 5, 2008, a deputy pulled over a brown Honda Accord with a Louisiana license plate, a badly shattered windshield, and four teenage boys inside. The driver had a suspended license, and another teen was sitting on a small amount of pot.
When deputies searched the car, they found flashlights, wire cutters, binoculars and ski masks, reports said.
Inside the trunk they found a .22-caliber rifle, a CD player, and 17 grams of marijuana, reports said. They also found a bag containing 53 grams of marijuana hidden in the spare tire compartment.
Two of the teens were taken to the North Naples substation, where they admitted to burglarizing the Misener home, according to reports. They said they were going to “break into a marijuana grow house to steal weed,” reports said.
One of the teens told deputies he previously had broken into the house and stolen 30 pounds of marijuana. However, that night the teen said the shed “where the marijuana was being grown” had been stripped and all the grow equipment was gone, reports said.
Instead, he said they broke into a “stow-and-go trailer” and stole a bag of marijuana, the rifle and the CD player.
Misener confirmed that the rifle and the CD player were stolen during the burglary, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kristi Lester said.
Roberts said investigators have searched the trailer for drugs.
“None were found,” he said in an e-mail.
About six months later, at 3:54 a.m. on Oct. 22, deputies were called to 91 Willoughby Drive after Sterlin Misener was awakened by his home alarm, according to an incident report. He found an L-shaped burn and cut marks near the door of his workshop in the backyard.
Three days later, a Cape Coral man and two Cape Coral teens broke into the Miseners’ home, while another Cape Coral man waited in the car, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
After his arrest, 20-year-old Christopher Clark gave a taped confession, during which he said that four months prior he noticed marijuana in the garage of 91 Willoughby Drive, according to a Sheriff’s Office report.
Clark told investigators that he knew there was marijuana in the house, and that he and the other suspects were there to steal it, reports said.
“Well, they were asking for money and weed,” Erika Misener told investigators. “I mean, they weren’t asking. Yeah, they were saying ‘Where is it? Where is it? Where do you keep the weed?’ And think we have, uh, weed and, for some reason. ... I don’t know why.”
Michael F. Hornung, the attorney for the accused get-away driver, Matthew Stephen Cusson, 20, said his client never entered the home, was never on the property, and had no knowledge of what was there. However, he said the suspects are anxious to take the Miseners’ taped statements under oath.
“We want to ask the Miseners why there has been numerous individuals throughout our investigation that have referenced a big quantity of drugs being stored on that property,” Hornung said.
A “No Trespassing” sign is posted in the Miseners’ front yard.
When reached in her driveway on Thursday afternoon, Erika Misener said she had no comment. The media has made her family out to be criminals rather than victims, she said.
“I just want you to know that we don’t watch the news anymore, and we don’t get your paper anymore,” she said.
Sterlin Misener has submitted historical documents to the Daily News in the past, and at least once wrote a guest commentary.
Hutchison’s family also declined comment for this story.
Berry said he thinks it is irresponsible for the press to report on rumors about his client.
“There was a day when journalists did not report on rumors unless they had evidence to corroborate the rumors,” Berry said. “Now, in today’s world, the press reports on rumors which are unsubstantiated. In this case, the primary source for the rumors comes from teenagers who were arrested.”
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Comments » 92
RXT writes:
This should be fun.
swfl_ff writes:
This story just keeps getting more interesting all the time. Hopefully one day it will all come out just what happened here.
I agree RXT. This should be good for another 200 or so posts.
sally1860 writes:
Why not get over there with some drug-sniffing dogs? Maybe they could give an indication of whether weed has been stored in the garage or the shed.
maxpup writes:
Sally
I am sure they have “sterilized” the house…..
If not, they should be popped for gross stupidity.
wordofmouth writes:
i agree w/the above-this is going to get more interesting b4 its over.
On a side note: if they would just legalize pot they wouldn't have to worry about the stray idiot trying to break into 'suspected' grow houses to steal it.
babyG writes:
of corse they're gunna say they dont have weed.. but having Berry as a lawyer says it ALL!
maxpup writes:
Sounds like some forensic accounting is called for.
Numbers don't lie... let's see if the banking and spending passes the smell test based on income.
I can't think of many handymen that can afford Berry & Day.... can you?
Something is not right here.....
The BS meter is off the scale on this one.
Smoke_Diver writes:
Re #7: Exactly.
Roscoe writes:
Well, why do journalist feel there is no need to get the facts before reporting? They report what they want so they can see their names in print under a headline. The investigation isn't even over yet and the 'jury' has already convicted the people involved all because of what some reporter writes.
And they wonder why newspapers are on their way out!
RoadKing writes:
Good point Mr. McMaxPup .. MaxPup RULES!
naplesnewby writes:
>>>"In today’s world, the press reports on rumors which are unsubstantiated. In this case, the primary source for the rumors comes from teenagers who were arrested."<<<
I agree with the lawyer. These libelous accusations printed by the newspaper about the victims are HORRENDOUS. The journalists need to be held accountable for what they've done to this poor family. The family has been targeted, investigated, sniffed, and completely violated for a year. This shouldn't be happening in America. The journalists should be fined for abusing their power and printing rumors that the police have already proven are false.
You would be agreeing with me if it were YOU who was being falsely targeted by the press.
naplesconservative writes:
wordofmouth,
I don't think legalization will do much if anything. Money, jewelry, cars, electronics, guns, even Victoria Secret bras are all legal and it does not seem to stop these kinds of people from stealing them.
babyG writes:
these kids just pull a million grams of pot out of there behinds and blame it on some random guy named Sterlin Misener? I dont think so.
naplesconservative writes:
babyG,
My math may be rusty, but 70 grams (17+53) is about 2.5 OZ.
Caliban writes:
If the cops say it aint so, it aint so. If this guy were turning over 30+ lbs of grass they would have been able to figure that one out. It takes ore than a shed to do that and it is not something one just cleans up in the course of a 911 call. The paper should watch its self for printing this crap. Why are they so gung-ho on finding fault with this guy? I would have shot the kid too, and I am a liberal.
memphismedic writes:
So what if he has marijuana at his house? It does not give anyone the right to rob him.
If the people that tied his wife up and put a gun in his face were after his marijuana, does that justify their actions? Of course not.
What the theives were after is not relevant.
maxpup writes:
Wongway got it the rightway.... amen
naplesnewby writes:
NDN is an entertainment magazine, with their headline: "Why the break-ins at North Naples house? Family disputes 'pot house' claims".
A true newspaper would've printed an actual headline: "Sherriff's office disputes 'pot house' rumors started by the NDN forums and by criminals"
FDNYEngine298 writes:
What's truly interesting is that every crime that was committed on this particular property had the same result " They were there to steal weed " hard to imagine everyone is singing the same story about the same house .
cheer4dabears writes:
All are innocent until found guilty
naplesnewby writes:
Don't you mean "the same result - the criminals got arrested". ?
Because thankfully, that was the result in all those cases.
And yet, more keep trying where past ones have failed. LOL! By default, criminals are dumb, but I guess the ones in this town are dumber than average. Honestly, they keep trying after so many arrests? Interesting to see if Hutchison's death will deter future crime.
I was thinking it would.
But after reading more of the history, I now feel the criminals here are too dumb to learn any lessons from anyone else's outcomes.
naplesnewby writes:
babyG, What do you mean by "having Berry as a lawyer says it all!"
What does it mean to have Berry as your lawyer?
And, did they choose this Berry, or did Berry seek them out after reading NDN?
Caliban writes:
How many people claim that cops stink and are corrupt? How many people claim that there was no holoucost? How many people claim to have seen UFO's? How many people claim to have heard God talk to them? Get it. The entire concept of the Law is based on evidence. Hard evidence, someone saying somthing is not going to make it. Jose made hailstones fall on my crop, lets stone him. She is a witch, I saw her flying on broomstick, Burn her! Man people a lot of you are no better than those crazed fanatics ready to lynch whoever it is next. The fact is some punk was on private property and got shot dead. His body was where it was not supposed to be. It is up to the cops to decide if the guy was threatened, a nice new law put into place by the gun loving righties, one which I really do like. The rest is hearsay and to go on about it is hunting witches.
StellaBlue (Inactive) writes:
Here's my opinion.........
ummmm.....errrrrrr......
Oh, nevermind.
flafish writes:
The people engaging in drug activity know where the drugs are. I've never had anyone show up at my house in the past 58 years demanding drugs. Where there's smoke there's usually some fire.
touronsBgone writes:
Actually, memphismedic, it does matter under the Stand Your Ground law.
wes writes:
No way flafish you are totally wrong and that way of thinking is destructive an unamerican. Where there's smoke, there's smoke. Get it?
agarry writes:
I don't care if there were pot plants hanging from the rafters! No one has a right to enter a property to rob or terrorize a family. This used to be a town where we could leave our doors unlocked and not have to worry. Now, we can't even leave our sunglasses in plain view in a locked car! I wish that every trespasser and thief did so in fear for their lives, maybe it would slow down a bit. I hate guns and I sold mine years ago. It's getting to the point that I feel that it's foolish not to be armed!
flafish writes:
thanks for your opinion Wes, but it has nothing to do with being American or Unamerican. All Im saying is you go to Publix for your groceries and Lowes for appliances. You know where to go for the things you want or feel you need.
Minority writes:
Guilty until proven innocent? This isn't the 1600's. It's now innocent until proven guilty. ^.^
jrhnparadise writes:
WHAT ABOUT A CHARGE OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE?? HANDING OVER THE WRONG GUN ,,, OR IS THAT OKAY TOO? HE WAS TRYING TO COVER UP THE ILLEGAL SAWED OFF SHOT GUN......WHAT ELSE WAS HE COVERING UP??
thedudesview writes:
This is murder and the DA knows it, but the State needs to find a way to handle this so a person will not feel hindered for protecting their property. It's a puzzle for the DA.
tderry writes:
A sawed off shot gun?
That's a crime in itself!
momforjustice writes:
We all have our opinions on whether or not Misener should have killed Patrick based upon the report that Patrick "lunged" at him. I believe this is the bottom line and if the kid lunged at him in a drugged up stupper, he had no choice (except to have stayed in the house with his family and call 911 and let the CCSO handle the burglar); however, I do take exception that the NDN created the rumors about the grow house or drugs being available at this residence. Many bloggers on this incident repeated the same story. There were drugs at this house. The rumors did not start with the NDN. The NDN has only reported that the rumors were out there that this house had drugs, whether true or not. I hope the CCSO investigates to the fullest regarding these "rumors." I do find it very strange that this house was a target of so many burglaries. Was it a mansion in the normally unpretentious neighborhood? If not, why were so many young men interested in breaking into this house and not the house next door or down the street? I live in Golden Gate City and have a beautiful home, and (knock on wood), no one has ever tried to break into our home. I also think that even though Mr. Misener believed he had a right to kill the "burglar," I don't see any signs of remorse that he killed a 19 year old troubled neighbor. I do believe that if I had thought I was being burglarized and shot the perpetrator and found it to be my neighbor's son, I would be devastated.
personalj writes:
No one has said whether or not the shotgun was sawed down to less than 18 inches, for all you know it could have had a 26 inch barrel, sawed down to 20 inches. In that case it wouldn't be a short barreled shotgun under NFA rules.
brighteyes writes:
houdal -- I do understand your point and I don't blame Misener for hiring Jerry Berry. Whether guilty or innocent, he knows he did something that is worthy of hiring the best attorney he can in Collier County. That's why our family finally went outside Collier County to seek counsel on a terrible injustice in this County. We did not want to hire Jerry Berry or his firm who I have heard gave their support to Kevin Rambosk in the election campaign. I would think that a criminal defense firm would withhold endorsement of the sheriff. But what do I know.
LovesBS writes:
Weed or no weed...doesn't matter.
What matters is that Sterlin Misener is a killer!
For this 'smiling jerk' to kill anyone with a sawed off shotgun while a phone call from the safety of his house would have brought the police is beyond belief!! He wanted to kill someone!!
The prosecutor needs to bring murder charges and let the judge and jury sort it out.
At this point...for me...'Guilty of murder in the first degree'. Bye bye for 30 years. We don't need people like this in our community.
native_at_heart writes:
maxpup.....welcome back. hope all went OK for you.
theabyss writes:
My Dad always said, if it ain't yours don't touch it. Time to start teaching the younger generation proper values again instead of all this liberal crap!
maxpup writes:
native_at_heart,
The real fun begins this week.
I leave for TGH in a couple of days.
Already been up and back once. Surgery is set for Friday. Hopefully I will have access so I can stay in touch.
Thanks again
silent writes:
fishy
maxpup writes:
BDR,
I can't really remember being on opposing sides with you before.
All I am saying is when multiple alegations are made it is only prudent for a complete examination. As people have been known to lie the scuritiny of finances is probably the only real truth to be told. Then the allegations are found to be valid or without merit.
I am not convicting (passing judgement)on anyone at this point, however, If I was tasked with getting to bottom of this forensic accounting would be my first choice of tactics.
Simply stated... Follow the $$$ The results will either be exculpatory or will justify additional investigation.
Generally if you factor out all the BS you are usually left with the truth.
native_at_heart writes:
maxpup, sorry you have more ahead of you. wishing you the best. will be watching for you, take care.
tallthin1 writes:
yeeeaahh holly!!!!
Lucifer writes:
babyG has no idea what they are speaking of. #22 is correct in their thinking, and #24 asks an excellent question.
kamorgan writes:
Too bad all 3 perps back on Oct weren't blown away with his sawed off shotgun. They deserved it!
CTinFL writes:
Come on, do we not all remember being in high school? Think about how rumors spread and grow amongst teenagers. After a few rounds of "operator," rumors become facts that EVERYONE is SURE of. Many teens will even remember "seeing" something they only heard about 100 times. Some teens might even lie to make themselves look "cool". For example, "I stole 30 POUNDS of weed from that house." 30 POUNDS?! Come on... From the little I know about the CCSO, they probably searched every inch of that house AND looked at their finances and spending habits. There's no way they wouldn't have known if there had ever been that quantity of drugs in the house. Until there's evidence contrary, I'm calling the pot rumors just that - rumors. Now, can we just legalize marijuana so the point is moot? Geesh, who cares if there was pot in the house anyway? They're still victims either way!
StepUpToBat writes:
Momforjustice #36 said it well. jrhnpardise,33 and thedudesview,34 are right on. Everybody has beat this dead horse, but there is no doubt some very serious investigation needs to to be completed here. This is going to be a tough one for the prosecutor but must be tackled. JUST BECAUSE A LAW REMOTELY ALLOWS YOU TO DO A CERTAIN ACT, DOESN'T MEAN YOU NEED TO TRY IT.
He should have been out at a gun range, not shooting at a neighbors kid, who was raised next door to his own children, who was rumaging around out near the public property line. Meisner was safe inside of his locked and secure home when he rushed outside with a sawed off shotgun. And although many want to convict this kid of "previously running from the police", I don't think he even had his hearing to be found guilty of that. He didn't get his day in court. Maybe this adult Meisner shouldn't either.
If this were my child, I'd hire the finest and best Attorney outside of Collier County, start my own investigation and watch that smile fall right off of Meisner's face. He's convicted in my eyes and probably that of God's too.
This is not about gun rights, this is about being an upstanding real citizen with common sense and a little compasion. As many said on here who were born and raised in Collier County, they've not had this many police calls to their home in their life time.
The real scarry part is the posters on here who almost wish it was them, that got the chance to shoot the neighbor's child. Wow!
paul_vincent_zecchino writes:
Thugs blame victims. Always. Rapists always claim the woman 'asked for it'.
Thugs cry that the mean old cops are are picking on them.
Aren't we glad they do? Cops 'pick on' crooks by surveilling and arresting those who'd burn your house, rape your wife, kill your dog, bludgeon you, sell your kids to the lowest bidder - and say you had it coming because you're a drug dealer.
As with the Zecchino Estate Grifters and their lawyers, they're all so pious, aren't they?
Isn't that why "Perjury Pat" Stoye, George Allen Wilson, II, of Cheffy "We Make Housecalls!" Passidomo, Mark V. Silverio, and Girard R. Visconti, Esq., the "Tiffany Lamp Queen of Barrington" lied and violated our rights to cover their tracks in a case involving millions diverted and people dead before their time?
Cremation doesn't destroy evidence, cremation is evidence. Crime implicates. Coverup convicts.
My father was in fact being taken for millions - and I, his only son and heir, was being set up, so say all who reviewed this tedious blame-shift.
Remember O.J.? Didn't he blame his victims? He said his wife was 'mean'. He said the cops were 'racist'.
Yeah. Right. Is that why Mark Fuhrman shoots hoop with fellow cops, black, white, and green, because he's 'racist'? No, he's a good criminologist who knows hinkies.
O.J.'s 'dream team' got him off and mocked the Brown and Goldman families.
A cautionary tale for those who impugn Mr. Misener and expose his family to further harm, as well as those who demolished a family so as to loot it, and tried to set my wife and me up to cover their tracks:
"The Juice Man" got off. Briefly. He and his lawyers vomited injustice in the Brown and Goldman families' faces.
When you giddily vomit injustice in the faces of your victims, they'll use every legal device to bring you to justice.
It went swimmingly for O.J. Always does. Until it goes bad. When it does, it goes very bad.
It went bad for Simpson. Mr. Goldman is collecting and Simpson's behind bars for life.
A crook claims he stole 30 pounds of pot from Mr. Misener? Isn't he obvious? Isn't he really saying, 'next time I have to pull a job, I could end up in a body bag'?
Mr. Misener served notice on crooks, the time for honoring themselves will soon be at and end.
Americans aren't fooled by liars - or their criminal clients.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
29 March, 2009
thedudesview writes:
bigdog-- The DA will decide if a law was broken. Not you. Now roll over.
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