A sex offender who lives with his mother in The Villages has been jailed without bond after violating his probation in a drunk driving case.
Edward Charles Wardingley, 63, who lives at 1312 La Estrellita Way in the Village of Santiago, was booked Wednesday night at the Sumter County Detention Center.
Wardingley was convicted in 2018 of lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim between the ages of 12 and 15. He was sentenced to three years in prison and was to remain on felony probation through 2031.
The original complaint from Orange County indicates that in 2018 Wardingley touched the breasts and buttocks of a 14-year-old girl with whom he had been staying while her mother was in Dallas on a business trip. The mother was monitoring the home through ADT and saw Wardingley touch the girl’s breasts. The mother came home and confronted Wardingley who reportedly had been touching the girl’s breasts and buttocks “daily” for two months. He had asked to touch the girl’s other private parts, but the girl refused. He also exposed his penis to the girl “on multiple occasions.”
In 2022, he was sentenced following a drunk driving arrest at Lake Sumter Landing.
Wardingley’s mother and father purchased the home in the Village of Santiago in 2000 when it was brand new. Wardingley’s father died in 2019.
