---
title: "Florida SWAT Team Finds Drugs, Golf Cart ‘Chop Shop’ In Retirement Community Raid"
description: "Who says senior citizens don't know how to have a good time?"
date: "2017-06-23"
modified: "2019-07-03"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/11817/florida-swat-team-finds-drugs-golf-cart-chop-shop-in-retirement-community-raid"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "chop shop"
  - "Crime"
  - "Florida"
  - "golf cart"
  - "theft"
---

# Florida SWAT Team Finds Drugs, Golf Cart ‘Chop Shop’ In Retirement Community Raid

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/06/chop-shop.png>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Golf carts are a big deal in The Villages, a mammoth, planned [retirement community](<https://www.epconcommunities.com/55-plus-communities-in-cincinnati-ohio/>) ruled by a secretive developer and posing as a quasi-city in central Florida. Owned by many of its 150,000 residents, they're used as a main form of transportation to 11am happy hours, an expression [of wealth and taste,](<https://www.slate.com/articles/life/florida/features/2013/oh_florida/the_villages_scandals_irs_stds_golf_carts_and_made_up_history.html>) and the occasional [passionate rendezvous.](<https://www.buzzfeed.com/likethebreadorthedressing/seven-days-and-nights-in-the-worlds-largest-rowdiest-retirem?utm_term=.krJD4842G#.ihW1yPy0W>)

So in a way, it's both amazing and completely fitting that a shadowy black market for [golf carts](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/11769/video-shows-president-donald-trump-driving-golf-cart-on-green>) should exist under The Villages' veneer of civility and sunshine. On Wednesday, a SWAT team and deputies with the Sumter County Sheriff's Office [raided a notorious problem house](<https://www.villages-news.com/deputies-raid-problem-home-villages/>) in one of the complex's neighborhoods and discovered drugs, paraphernalia, and evidence of a full-fledged golf cart "chop shop."

https://youtube.com/embed/QJM-lMImEHM

[For months,](<https://www.villages-news.com/overwhelmed-frustrated-neighbors-appeal-relief-neighbors-trashy-yard/>) neighbors had complained that a younger relative of the sickly old homeowner had moved in with a few other shady characters and set up shop selling drugs and stealing golf carts. In addition to finding [heroin](<https://thefixfix.com/california-medicaid-centers/>) and methamphetamine during the raid, officers uncovered a whole bunch of [golf cart](<https://www.thedrive.com/design/4439/mercedes-benz-reveals-luxury-golf-cart-with-built-in-fridge>) parts, including wheels, tires, seats, windshields, and various other fitments.

Police have yet to connect the parts haul with any of the recent local thefts, but it wouldn't be the first time something like this went down in The Villages. In May, [deputies busted up a three-person golf cart theft ring](<https://www.wftv.com/news/local/3-arrested-in-golf-cart-theft-ring-in-the-villages/523195766>) that swiped upwards of 30 carts a month from unsuspecting residents and resold them for cash.

The elderly man who owns the property was allowed to remain in the house, but his sketchy niece and her friends weren't so lucky—[they've been charged](<https://www.facebook.com/scsoflorida/posts/1597544340318306>) with a slew of [drug offenses](<https://futurerestored.com/about/>), and their days of stealing from your snowbird great aunt are over.

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)