A man convicted in a string of burglaries in 2014 is back behind bars after some suspicious activity behind a Villages Golf Cars location.
Duane Roy Helvie, 46, was being held this weekend at the Marion County Jail on multiple probation violations.
Helvie had attracted the attention of a Lady Lake police office at about 9:30 p.m. Feb. 12 when his vehicle was backed into Villages Golf Cars on Bichara Boulevard in Spanish Springs, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department. The officer noted in his report that he was particularly concerned because of recent golf cart thefts in the area. Helvie drove away when he spotted the police officer’s vehicle.
During a traffic stop, Helvie said he had been looking for boxes. The officer found that Helvie’s driver’s license had been permanently revoked in 2010 due to multiple convictions for driving under the influence.
Helvie was arrested on a charge of driving while license suspended and booked at the Lake County Jail. On Friday, he was transferred to the Marion County Jail to face charges of violating his probation.
In 2016 in Marion County Court, Helvie had been placed on five years probation in connection with a string of burglaries in southern Marion County. He was also ordered to pay $10,000 restitution to his victims.
He reportedly targeted homes he thought were unoccupied and then sold stolen items at yard sales.He told the judge in the case he would have no problem making the restitution as he was running a successful handyman business in The Villages.
Helvie billed himself as “Mr. Tuffy” on his Angie’s List page and had listed his headquarters on Hildalgo Drive in The Villages.
