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'Hyde Park rapist' arrested in Brevard

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: June 28, 2009

TAMPA - Bobby J. Helms, known in the 1980s as the "Hyde Park rapist," was arrested Friday evening by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office for violating conditions of his probation.

At the time of his arrest, Helms, 52, was in the company of a 16-year-old girl and had more than 100 tablets of a prescription painkiller on him, the sheriff's office said.

Investigators think Helms has associating with a number of teenage girls and may be involved with illegal drugs in violation of his probation.

Helms was arrested about 9:30 p.m. Friday while driving not far from the efficiency apartment where he lives on North Harbor City Boulevard in Melbourne, said Lt. Tod Goodyear, who leads the sheriff's sex crimes unit.

Goodyear said it's unclear whether Helms will face a judge in Brevard County or will be sent back to Hillsborough County for a hearing.

Helms has lived in Melbourne for 18 months. He moved there after his release from the Florida Civil Commitment Center in Arcadia where he was under psychiatric treatment provided to sex offenders. Helms spent eight years at the Arcadia facility. Psychiatrists deemed him no threat in early 2008.

Helms terrorized residents of South Tampa for three years in the 1980s, breaking into homes while the occupants were sleeping. Helms told police he raped 12 women and tried to rape four others.

He chose victims based on where they lived and threatened them with a steak knife, according to police.

In 1983, Helms raped one woman for two hours and taunted her for years after with obscene telephone messages.

Helms spent 13 years in prison. He was released on probation in 1999.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 731-8168.

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