POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Neighbors are on high alert Tuesday evening after an uptick in scary encounters at the Lake Juliana Estates gated community in Auburndale.
Residents said the lack of communication with the homeowner's association has gone so far a petition was started to get answers.
"It's terrifying. It's absolutely terrifying," homeowner Katherine Bohannon said.
The latest incident in the community directly impacted her and her family, leaving them feeling uneasy and unsafe.
"My heart is racing now, just having to relive this and talk about it," Bohannon said.
On Jan. 9, a masked woman who appeared to be on the phone came up to her door and checked out her home.
"She's also looking in the window, obsessively knocking and it sounds like in that video, she's saying, 'they're gone, get here now,'" Bohannon said.
Captured on camera, the woman stopped to stare at the Ring doorbell several times. Bohannon and her husband had just run to the gas station, but their daughters were still inside the home.
The woman knocked twice, taking steps back before running away when the couple pulled into the driveway. Five minutes later, Auburndale Police were there investigating, asking neighbors if they noticed anything suspicious.
That wasn't the first incident in the community, just the latest in what neighbors are calling an uptick. Two weeks ago, police were called after kids were firing BB guns near the basketball court, and last November, a home was broken into.
"It scares me a little to read about other people, but there's a new reality when it is going on in real-time with your children," Bohannon said.
The three-year resident said neighbors agree the front gates are the root of the issue.
"Right up until a year ago, we had a new home builder takeover and there were a lot of changes. The main one is they do not close the front gate and they keep it open. A lot of people get into this subdivision that is not supposed to be here. Other neighbors are complaining about crime in the neighborhood too," Bohannon said.
After reporting an uptick in unusual activity for over a year, neighbors said they aren't hearing anything back from the homeowner's association or the board in charge. So far, the petition that started to keep the gates closed has 83 signatures.
"I believe that we need to have the HOA shut the front gates. Let's start using the buzzer system if people are supposed to be here," Bohannon said.
10 Tampa Bay made an effort to contact the HOA and the board to ask them questions about safety and security there. We were told by the community manager, Zayriliann Lorenzo, she had no power to make decisions herself and that our questions would be sent to the board. We have yet to hear back but will follow up. We have also reached out to Auburndale Police to see if they plan on increasing patrols in the neighborhood.