Community Watch cameras are receiving praise for their crucial role in finding two hit-and-run suspects who struck bicyclists and fled in The Villages.
Lt. Robert Siemer, district commander in The Villages for the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, said the cameras are the unsung heroes in tracking down the two suspects in the hit-and-run crashes which occurred Oct. 30 and Nov. 3.
The sheriff’s office worked with the Florida Highway Patrol in the arrests of 89-year-old Marilyn Jean Hamilton of The Villages on Nov. 5 and 59-year-old William Joseph Croop of Orange Springs on Nov. 8.
The gate cameras captured key images, including the license plate number of Croop’s silver Jaguar, that led authorities to the suspects.
Community Watch was quick and responsive in analyzing the surveillance and producing the incriminating images.
“They put a lot of hours into it,” Siemer said.
Hamilton allegedly stopped her white Mercedes, got out and saw Villagers Jessica Laube and Robert Hunter, injured on the pavement. She drove away and was arrested after she took the damaged Mercedes to an automotive repair facility in Gainesville.
Croop’s Jaguar was tracked down after a tip led investigators to a home in the Village of Glenbrook. Croop claimed he was “sleep driving” when he struck Villager Ken Nevers on Hillsborough Trail. Croop said he thought he hit a pole.