A Villager who was convicted in a 2019 gun threat in a roundabout has landed back behind bars.
William Scott Ragains, 63, who lives in the Alexandria Villas in the Village of Belle Aire, was being held without bond over the weekend on a probation violation at the Sumter County Detention Center.
Ragains was originally arrested Nov. 29, 2019 after he was driving a black Dodge Ram pickup in the roundabout at El Camino Real and Buena Vista Boulevard when he cut off a white SUV, forcing the driver to slam on his brakes, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. When the driver of the white SUV blew his horn at Ragains’ pickup truck, Ragains flipped “the bird” and waved a gun out the window, the report said.
The driver of the white SUV – who had his wife, two 13-year-olds, an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old riding as passengers – followed Ragains’ truck in an attempt to get the license plate number. Ragains took off at “a high rate of speed” and was “whipping in between cars and cutting people off,” the arrest report said. Ragains’ truck was stopped at a Circle K service station at Southern Trace Plaza. A search of the vehicle turned up a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver, hidden under a floor mat in the back seat. Both guns were fully loaded. A container of cocaine was also found in the vehicle. Deputies determined that Ragains had handed the weapons and cocaine to a juvenile who was in the back seat.
A criminal history check showed that Ragains had been convicted in 1980 of drug possession in Virginia. He was arrested on charges of improper exhibition of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of cocaine and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
In 2021, Ragains was sentenced to three years probation and two years of community control. He was also ordered to undergo anger management and seek an alcohol evaluation. In addition, he surrendered his voting rights.
He wrote a letter to a judge earlier this year asking for permission to visit his uncle suffering renal failure in Louisville, Ky. In the letter, Ragains acknowledged the strict restrictions on his ability to travel.
An affidavit detailing his probation violation was filed last week in Sumter County Court. That document remains sealed.
Ragains is represented by attorney Andrew Moses, known in The Villages for his defense of a man who left a woman for dead when she fell from a golf cart he was driving. Ragains is scheduled for a violation of probation hearing Sept. 6 in Sumter County Court.