A resident of The Villages has been arrested on a felony charge of child abuse.
James Stevens, 47, who lives at 1908 De Hoyos Place in the Village of Santo Domingo, was taken into custody at 7:40 p.m. Monday by a Sumter County sheriff’s deputy. A woman said she had been arguing with Stevens when a little girl went up to Stevens and kicked him in the leg. Stevens “got mad” and kicked the girl in the stomach “causing her to scream and cry.”
Stevens was taken into custody and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on $3,000 bond.
He has been arrested two other times this year in The Villages:
• Stevens had been driving on a North Carolina license at about 10 p.m. Aug. 7 when a Sumter County sheriff’s deputy noticed he was at the wheel of a golf cart without headlights at Morse Boulevard and Odell Circle. Stevens admitted he had been drinking beer at Sonny’s Real Pit BBQ at Lake Sumter Landing. He refused to submit to a breath test, leading to the immediate suspension of his license. He was recently sentenced in that case.
• The Wisconsin native was at the wheel of a pickup on Sept. 11 when he was pulled over on the Historic Side of The Villages. He was arrested on a charge of driving while license suspended. He is due for sentencing in that case Nov. 15 in Lake County Court.