A daughter living in her parents’ rental home in The Villages was arrested after a visit from law enforcement.
Sumter County sheriff’s deputies arrived at 5:06 p.m. Thursday at the home at 754 Taos Way in the Village of Polo Ridge to serve a warrant to revoke the bond of 46-year-old Tara Malara, who was arrested along with her father in December at their home in the Village of Glenbrook. Malara, who is facing a long list of drug charges, had been released Dec. 11 on $51,000 bond.
Deputies found Malara in a screened-in porch and when they attempted to take her into custody, she ran into the house. As she was being taken into custody, deputies spotted in “plain sight” in the bathroom a cut straw covered in a powdery residue, several syringes, a digital scale and multiple plastic bags “commonly used in the sale of narcotics,” according to the arrest report.
She was arrested on charges of possession of heroin, possession of drug equipment and resisting arrest. She was booked without bond at the Sumter County Detention Center.
The house where Malara was arrested is a rental home owned by her parents. They also own homes at:
• 3366 Richmond Drive in the Village of Belle Aire.
• 1624 Navidad St. in the Village of Alhambra.
• Two properties at the Sandalwood Condominiums in Wildwood.
She and her father were arrested in a Dec. 8 raid at their home in the Village of Glenbrook. Charges against her father were later dropped.
That home became the focus of an investigation after 61-year-old Ken Nevers of the Village of Fenney was struck by a silver Jaguar while bicycling Nov. 3 near the Manatee Recreation Center. The driver fled the scene, but a tipster placed the vehicle at the Malara home. An investigator with the Florida Highway Patrol visited the home and spoke to Tara Malara who provided information that led to the arrest of 59-year-old William Joseph Croop on a charge of hit and run.
In August, Malara was arrested on the suspicion she was selling drugs.
In 2017, Malara was at the wheel of her parents’ Buick when it hit 79-year-old Richard Bolender’s golf cart in the Village of Glenbrook. He died a week later.