The camera at the Shay Gate captured the image of a license plate of a truck hauling a stolen golf cart leading to the arrest of two suspected thieves.
Snowbirds from Massachusetts had parked their rented four-seater Yamaha golf cart on the afternoon of March 14 at the Southside Pool on the Historic Side of The Villages. When they came back to the parking lot, the golf cart was gone.
Lady Lake police reviewed surveillance footage from the camera at the Shay Gate and found images of a red Dodge pickup driving out of The Villages carrying a golf cart identical to the one taken from the Southside Pool.
The license plate led to the truck’s owner who said she had loaned the truck to another woman who had loaned the truck to her son “to do work on houses in The Villages,” according to an arrest report from the police department. While that man was working on a home on Schwartz Boulevard, he was approached by 54-year-old Michael Devere Williams and 36-year-old Jessie Lee Curtis who asked to borrow his truck. Williams lives on Schwartz Boulevard and Curtis had been the subject of a missing person alert this past weekend. You an read more about that HERE
When Williams and Curtis arrived at the Southside Pool, one of the men took a drink from the water fountain. Williams, who had a Club Car golf cart key in his pocket, spotted the snowbird’s Yamaha golf cart with the key in its ignition. The men went to another location where they loaded the cart into the truck. Curtis drove the truck and Williams drove the golf cart, the arrest report indicated.
Together they drove to Lowe’s on U.S. Hwy. 441 where they met a man driving a black one-ton dually with an open trailer. They loaded the golf cart onto the trailer. Williams and Curtis, who were told the golf cart would be taken to Georgia, were each paid $400.
Warrants were obtained for each of the men. Williams was taken into custody on Saturday and Curtis was arrested on Sunday. Both were booked at the Lake County Jail on charges of grand theft.
Last year, the Amenity Authority Committee voted to spend nearly $300,000 to upgrade the gate cameras located north of County Road 466. You can read more about that HERE
