Watergate Estates and Boca Bend 2017 Homes Sold

Watergate Estates; image by Google

There were 19 mobile home sales recorded on the MLS for the Watergate Estates mobile home park in 2017. The average price was just over $91,000, up over 25% from $72,000 in 2016. While a couple of the mobile homes sold for under $50,000, seven sold for over $100,000. Homes typically sold in less than 30 days, though a couple of exceptions took 3-4 months to sell.
The highest price was for 10671 228th Lane which sold for $144,000 with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths in 1300 square feet. Two homes sold for $125K each – 11847 Atlantic Circle newly built in 2012 with over 2000 square feet, and 22850 Cascade Road with 1700 square feet.
At the low end 22985 Seaspray Place sold for $42,500 with under 1000 square feet. The larger and older 11962 Watergate Circle sold for $46,900 with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths in 1400 square feet.
Watergate Estates mobile home park and Boca Bend townhomes; image and map data by Google

Boca Bend
Four Boca Bend townhomes sold in 2017, all quickly and in a fairly tight price range. One REO unit coming out of foreclosure sold for $146,700, while the other three sold for between $159K and $169K. Each townhome has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths in 1100 square feet. They all sold in 23 days or less

BREAKING: Shooting in West Boca – Boca Trails

Reader photo this morning of crime scene at 22793 Tradewind Road at Winding Creek Lane, just south of Judge Winikoff.

A man was shot in the torso early this morning. The incident took place in the Boca Trails subdivision, apparently at 22793 Tradewind Road just south of Judge Winikoff.

Update: PBSO tells us the victim is an adult black male.

Map showing location of 22793 Tradewind. Image and map data by Google.

We received notice of the incident almost immediately from a reader:

Someone was shot at that house (Tradewind Road). Don’t know all the details. 4-6 shots fired shortly after 2am. Ambulance removed 1 person about 10 minutes after the shots were fired.

The Sheriff’s office sent an e-mail this morning confirming it:

Time: 1:54 am
Detectives are investigating a shooting in the 22700 block of Tradewinds Road, unincorporated Boca Raton. A male was shot in the torso area by unknown shooter. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment. His condition is unknown.
No suspect information of known motive at this time. Detectives from the Violent Crimes Division are investigating further.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS.

The location is just north of the west end of the Watergate Estates trailer park. We have noticed a lot of arrests and reports of criminal activity in that section, but we see nothing indicating this incident is related to that.
The property where it happened was purchased in August of 2015 by a woman named Amanda Francois. This may be the same Amanda Francois whose father was murdered in 2014 in Miami, but we have not been able to confirm the connection.

Flooding in West Boca Raton: Photos and Stories

We posted a few reader photos of flooding on Facebook last night. Other readers responded with more, and with stories. The flooding was so bad it got inside Town Center Mall:
mall-flood
We have seen houses suffering damage from the high winds and heavy rain so it’s important to act quick after the storms pass to prevent any further damage. If you see any issues with your roof then get WDR Roofing Company to look at it before it becomes worse. That first photo is from our own kid getting in on the action. We also received mall photos from readers. This one is also from inside:
mall-flood2
Parking areas were also flooded.
parking-flooding

Reader Robyn Becker-Bracero sent us several photos including this one of her feet underwater.
Reader Robyn Becker-Bracero sent us several photos including this one of her feet underwater.

Robyn Becker-Bracero told us:

It was inside the mall. The water was pouring in through the employee/security entrance next to Macy’s and the Apple Store. It started coming in quick. Several people were video taping. It was even worse outside under the covered lot at Macy’s exit.

macys-entrance
We saw flooding ourselves in Town Center Circle (east side of Military south of Glades) with water up to several inches deep at its worst. Leaving that plaza we were about to turn onto NW 19th but the water looked very deep so we converted that left into a U-turn and headed south on Palmetto Park Road. There was significant flooding on Palmetto, especially on the westbound side in the right lanes both near the Kabbalah Center (just west of Turnpike) and at the intersection with Lyons Road.

Readers also reported significant flooding along SW 18th west of Powerline and near Boca Rio.
sw18th-flood
Lindsay Roffman-Schwimmer reported:

My SUV was stuck in boca pointe last night. Hundreds of cars were just sitting ducks.. some of them were floating by me. I couldn’t tell what was the lake and what was the road. I pulled into a sub development and waited in a guest spot that was raised on higher ground. My boyfriend had to come in his truck and rescue me.
Many smaller luxury cars were submerged in water up to their windows. It was literally a mini natural disaster area.. Also including SW 18th street areas. I hope everyone is safe now.

In the same area Melisa Mely said:

I have never seen more water on the 18th Street. Some cars actually got stuck. I’m glad I made it home.

There was more flooding in Watergate Estates (aka West Sandalfoot):
watergate-flood2
watergate-flood1
Also in Escondido (east side of Lyons south of Glades):
escondido2
escondido
Even the French residents got in on it, from Bensimon Nessim:

C’est catastrophique, le pire c’est que contre les inondations on ne peut pas faire grand chose
(Translation) It is catastrophic, the worst part is that against the floods we can’t do much

And there were just places where traffic went deep:
rbb2
Reader estimates of total rainfall varied from 1.5 to over 5 inches. We estimate 4-5 inches fell in Boca Falls from our own somewhat reliable method (rise in the level of our pool). For arguably more reliable numbers, we have this from the National Weather Service:
nws-rainfall
There was significant coverage of the flooding in other media. Our favorite was WPTV reporting that Boca Raton City Hall experienced flooding on both the 1st and 2nd floors. Second floor?
Update: Bonus photo from reader Samir. This one is in East Boca on Federal Highway.
samir
One other detail that was mildly amusing, where the National Weather Service posted a tornado warning recommending people go to their basements, which is not terribly practical in South Florida.
Tornado Warning issued March 24 at 6:49PM EDT until March 24 at 7:15PM EDT by NWS Miami THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIAMI HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR… NORTHEASTERN BROWARD COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN FLORIDA… SOUTHEASTERN PALM BEACH COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN FLORIDA… * UNTIL 715 PM EDT * AT 649 PM EDT…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO WAS LOCATED OVER COCONUT CREEK…OR OVER MARGATE…MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH. HAZARD…TORNADO. SOURCE…RADAR INDICATED ROTATION. IMPACT…FLYING DEBRIS WILL BE DANGEROUS TO THOSE CAUGHT WITHOUT SHELTER. MOBILE HOMES WILL BE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. DAMAGE TO ROOFS…WINDOWS…AND VEHICLES WILL OCCUR. TREE DAMAGE IS LIKELY. * LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE… CORAL SPRINGS…POMPANO BEACH…BOCA RATON…DEERFIELD BEACH AND TAMARAC. TORNADO…RADAR INDICATED HAIL…0.00IN TAKE COVER NOW! MOVE TO A BASEMENT OR AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A STURDY BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF YOU ARE OUTDOORS…IN A MOBILE HOME…OR IN A VEHICLE…MOVE TO THE CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER AND PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS.

Big Drug Bust in West Sandalfoot

sandalfoot-seven
Thanks to a reader tip we learned of a major drug bust that took place in the West Sandalfoot area known as Watergate Estates. Seven residents of that community were arrested, and all were booked around the same time between 5 pm and 6 pm.
Tiffany Ercolano (top left, 24) was charged with possession of drugs without a prescription and of drug equipment. She is in custody at the moment with bond set at $3000. We see nearly 20 cases in her past dating back to 2008 in the Palm Beach and Broward courts.
Jessica Pugliese (top center, 36) is charged with one felony count for heroin possession and over 10 counts for possession of drug equipment. She’s also in custody with bond at $5000. Her reported address is actually east of 441 on the south side of SW 18th. Her history shows multiple felonies dating back to 2003.
Terry Utter (top right, 60) is charged with one count of possession of drug equipment. Hassan Jones (bottom left, 42), with the same address as Ms. Utter, also faces one count of possession of drug equipment. Jones was released shortly after 9 pm without bond. Utter will probably be released as well. Ms. Utter and Mr. Jones both appeared in one of our articles in October after another Sandalfoot drug raid. We detailed their criminal histories in that article.
Also at the same address, Christopher Cerenzio (2nd from left, 28) faces one count of heroin possession and two drug equipment charges. His bond is set at $5K. We see felonies dating back to 2004 for him.
Richard Utter (2nd from right, 46) faces two heroin counts and his bond is set at $10K. He also appeared in West Boca News back in June on a burglary charge, where we detailed his significant history.
Finally Reginald Thomas (bottom right, 37) faces heroin, marijuana and drug equipment charges and awaits $5000 bond.
Of course, all arrestees are innocent until proven guilty. And as our regular readers are aware, West Boca News opposes the War on Drugs. It obviously isn’t working and turns troubled people toward more serious crimes.

Burglary & Weapon Charges Against West Sandalfoot Felon

emmanuel-padilla-burglary
Emmanuel Padilla (above, 28) was arrested Wednesday on several felony counts including burglary, grand theft, grand theft of a vehicle, marijuana possession, giving a fake ID to a police officer, resisting, grand theft of a firearm, and possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted felon.
Mr. Padilla, a resident of the Watergate Estates community in West Sandalfoot, has a substantial history in the Florida court system. Most notably he spent nearly four years in state prison from 2010 to 2014, on similar charges to his current arrest, from Palm Beach and Broward. He was released on May 27th of 2014.
Before that he had felony cases in Broward in 2006 and 2008, and a 2008 felony case in Palm Beach. He even picked up a disorderly conduct in Miami-Dade in 2005.
Court records indicate that two of the new counts against Mr. Padilla are for offenses that allegedly took place in July of 2014, a little over a month after he was released from prison.
Mr. Padilla also had a DUI case in June of 2014, less than a month after his release, but prosecutors dropped that one. He remains in custody at this writing with bond set at over $200,000.
Of course all defendants are innocent until proven guilty.