The pair arrested this week in connection with the theft last week of a Villager’s golf cart from the Publix at Mulberry Grove shopping plaza, are also charged with taking a Villager’s golf cart from Chatham Recreation Center.
Oxford residents Christopher Lee Sparkman, 34, and Kevin Allen Bansley, 31, are already facing charges of Grand Theft of Motor Vehicle. Bansley is also charged with Dealing in Stolen Property.
Now both are accused of taking a golf cart Tuesday from Chatham Recreation Center.
The pair were arrested Wednesday night in a joint operation between Marion and Sumter county law enforcement officials. The men were taken into custody at the Meadows mobile home and RV park on Highway 42.
Sumter County officials have identified Sparkman as a suspect in home burglaries in The Villages. Sparkman had worked for a cleaning service and was believed to have known the layout to homes that have been burglarized recently.
In addition, Sparkman and Bansley are now charged in a burglary which occurred Wednesday on Sunset Harbor Road in Weirsdale.
The victim told deputies she had left for work at 9 a.m. that day and when she returned home she found that a generator, weed whacker and gas blower had been removed from her garage.
According to arrest reports supplied by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, it appears the men were funneling the stolen goods through a woman named “Robin.”
Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office speculated that the men have drug habits that they have been trying to sustain.
The investigation continues.
Both men remain behind bars in the Marion County Jail.