A suspect has been arrested for allegedly causing $7,500 in damage to the entry gate at the Village of Marsh Bend, down in the southern end of The Villages.
A Community Watch staffer on Saturday morning discovered the damage at the gate and pulled up surveillance footage which showed the license plate number of a beige 2001 Ford Expedition crashing and then leaving the scene, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department.
An officer found the Ford Expedition at a nearby construction site. The vehicle’s owner was identified as 39-year-old Candido Tlatelpa Flores of Leesburg. He told police he does not have a drivers license and has never been issued one.
“Flores further acknowledged that he knew that he shouldn’t have been driving, but that he needed to get to work,” the arresting officer wrote in the report.
Flores was arrested on charges of hit and run and driving without a valid license. It was also discovered that he was wanted on an out-of-county warrant.
Flores was booked without bond at the Sumter County Detention Center.