A joint operation Wednesday night between the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office led to the recovery of a Villagers’ golf cart and may have netted an even bigger prize.
Christopher Lee Sparkman, 34, of Oxford, was one of two men arrested and charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle.
You can read more about that case at the link below:
http://villages-news.com/pair-arrested-theft-villagers-golf-cart-mulberry-grove/
But Sparkman has also been on the radar of some Sumter County detectives looking for a break in a rash of burglaries in The Villages.
He is a suspect in at least two Villages burglaries in which jewelry was stolen. He could be connected to more Villages burglaries, said Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
Sparkman worked for a cleaning service.
“He had access and knew the layout in some of these homes,” Caruthers said.
Thus far, Sparkman has been charged with two counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle (one for the golf cart theft), burglary of an unoccupied dwelling (unarmed) and grand theft.
One of the grand theft auto charges is in connection with an automobile stolen in Lake Panasoffkee.
There have been at least a dozen burglaries in The Villages in the past month.
Earlier this month, Sumter County sheriff’s deputies foiled a separate burglary in The Villages. You can read about that at the link below:
http://villages-news.com/deputies-foil-apparent-early-morning-burglary-village-fernandina/