A Village of Hadley woman has been ordered to stay away from liquor after a drunk driving arrest earlier this year.
Elizabeth Carroll Helsel, 70, who lives in the Grovewood Villas in the Village of Hadley, pleaded no contest Thursday in Lake County Court to a charge of driving under the influence. She has been placed on probation for one year, but she can seek early termination of her probation after six months if she complies with other terms of her probation including not possessing or consuming alcohol. She was also ordered to perform 50 hours of community service, but can “buy out” at a rate of $10 per hour. She will also lose her driver’s license for six months.
The native New Yorker was found in her vehicle at about 4 p.m. Feb. 9 in the 800 block of Millhorn Loop in the Village of Pine Hills in the Fruitland Park section of The Villages. When a Fruitland Park police officer approached her vehicle, the officer found that Helsel had “bloodshot watery eyes” and was giving off the “strong odor” of alcohol, according to the arrest report. She could barely perform field sobriety exercises. She also did not have the “lung capacity” to provide a measurable breath sample, the arrest report said.
