RISING CRIME IN BOCA RATON TARGETS FAMILY AT RENAISSANCE HOTEL. CAN YOU PLEASE HELP RECOVER A BACKPACK WITH SCHOOL NOTES?
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A family visiting Boca Raton for their daughter’s traveling soccer team became the victim of crime overnight. Someone smashed the windows of the family’s truck in the parking lot of the Renaissance Hotel. The thug or thugs made off with several items, including the daughter’s backpack which contained school notes, assignments, and more. While physical items can be replaced, anyone who was a kid, is a kid, or has kids knows that school work is largely irreplaceable. Midterms are just weeks away. It’s vital that the bag — or at least the notes — be returned.
According to the family speaking with BocaNewsNow.com, the crime happened between 11 p.m. Saturday night and 8 a.m. Sunday morning. The Boca Raton Police Department was called to the scene but merely took a report, looked in an area field, and an officer left a card. The department lately has been quite busy, with a still unsolved bomb and gun threat that forced the lockdown and then evacuation of Town Center Mall, a double murder on Ocean Boulevard, a strong-arm robbery at the mall, and two carjackings. And those are the crimes we know of.
The Renaissance, at 2000 NW 19th Street, recently underwent a massive renovation. We’re told that included an updated security system. We do not know if the crime was captured on camera. Police did not share the information with BocaNewsNow.com. It took the family reaching out to ask for help.
If you know anything about the backpack or — more importantly — the notes inside, here are a few options: if you’re willing, call the Boca Raton Police Department at 561-338-1234. If you’d like to remain anonymous, call CrimeStoppers at 800-458-TIPS. Want to leave them out of it? Text us at 561-576-NEWS (561-576-6397). We’ll help get the notes back to the student, without involving the cops. Or bring the bag to the Renaissance Hotel, but please tell someone what it is so no one thinks it’s an abandoned backpack with an explosive device inside. The photo above is the actual backpack. The student’s first name is “Ava,” you may see that name on the notes for her high school classes.
