Two men have been arrested following a rash of car burglaries in the Villages.
Around 2:42 a.m. Wednesday the Sumter County Sheriff's Office received a call from the Village Community Watch of two suspicious men inside a vehicle.
Deputies responded and the driver, 19-year-old Troy Duval Hagins Jr., of Leesburg was detained and eventually arrested for loitering and prowling. Deputies said they found two handguns, marijuana, and a bottle of hydrocodone inside the vehicle.
At 8 a.m. the Sumter County Sheriff's Office received a vehicle burglary report from Nash Loop in the Villages and deputies canvassed the area and discovered four vehicles that were broken into.
Investigators said the two handguns discovered in the suspects' vehicle were likely stolen from two Villages residents' vehicles and the bottle of hydrocodone was stolen from a Villages residents' golf cart.
At 8: 35 a.m. the Leesburg Police Department discovered an abandoned Mercury Marquee and contacted the owner who lives in The Villages. The owner reported the vehicle stolen.
Another vehicle was reported stolen from Eustis and the owner, 19-year-old Manuel Guzman, was interviewed by Sumter County Sheriff's Office detectives because he was seen on one of the victims' home security camera system at the scene around his vehicle. Investigators said Guzman confessed to falsely reporting his car stolen and being part of this crime spree.
Hagins Jr. was charged with seven counts of burglary to a conveyance , two counts of armed burglary to a conveyance, two counts of grand theft of a firearm, two counts of first degree petit theft, grand theft, grand theft of a controlled substance, loitering and prowling, possession of marijuana, drug trafficking, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Guzman was charged with seven counts of burglary to a conveyance, two counts of armed burglary to a conveyance, two counts of grand theft of a firearm, first degree petit theft, and grand theft.