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'80s Rapist Loses Home, Freedom Bid

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2007

Read The Contract

Victim Gets Look At Rapist | Video: Helms In Custody

TAMPA - The man once known as the 'Hyde Park rapist' tasted freedom for about six hours Monday.

Then an arrangement for his housing fell apart and he was sent back to a state treatment center. Officials at a mobile home park for sex offenders concluded Bobby Joe Helms was too dangerous.

Not to be confused with another 'Hyde Park rapist' who struck in the 1990s, Helms terrorized the neighborhood for about three years in the 1980s, later telling authorities he raped 12 women and tried to rape four more. He selected his victims based on where they lived and threatened them with a dull, serrated steak knife, authorities said.

He served 13 years in prison and was released in 1999 on probation and spent most of the time since in forced treatment, except for a period from 2002 through 2003.

After two psychiatrists evaluated Helms and determined that he is not a danger, he and prosecutors entered into a contract, with conditions, providing for his release Monday.

His attorney, Jeanine Cohen, accompanied him out of the Hillsborough County Courthouse, telling reporters, 'He worked hard in treatment.'

As he walked out of a courtroom with his sister Monday morning, Helms said he no longer is a danger. 'My goal is to go out and do right and do a lot better than I did in the '80s when I was out of control. I got my life under control now. I don't plan on going out and hurting anyone anymore. I'm going to comply' with the terms of release.

A few hours later, he was whisked back to confinement.

Facility Isn't Right Fit, Director Says

Cohen had asked the Florida Justice Alliance to allow Helms to live in a mobile home park in Pinellas County.

Originally, Nancy Morais, the alliance's executive director, agreed, after she said Cohen told her Helms was not a predator. Once Morais found out Helms' background from a co-worker, she says she told Cohen he was no longer welcome.

'It didn't occur to me he was the Hyde Park rapist,' Morais said.

The alliance's program at the Palace Mobile Home Park is designed for first-time offenders, typically men who have had consensual sex with teenage girls. It is not designed for the likes of Helms, Morais said.

'He's too high-profile, too dangerous, to fit into our program,' Morais said.

By the end of the day, Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters said Helms was in the Florida Civil Commitment Center, where he will remain until suitable housing could be found.

A condition of Helms' release was that he live somewhere that prosecutors approve. 'We're probably going to have to go in front of the court,' Peters said. 'They're probably going to have to try and find him a place that we'll approve.'

One of Helms' victims said she is ambivalent about his predicament.

'I have mixed feelings about it,' she said. 'From his point of view, I'm sure it's very disappointing. It does seem to me that the placement that was arranged should have checked into and/or been informed of his entire history.

'I guess there is kind of an element of relief that he's not free today,' she said. 'It's just kind of a strange development. ... They probably will find another placement for him, from what the state attorney's office told me.' She said she thinks his return back to the commitment center is probably 'just a hitch that will be resolved in a matter of days or weeks.'

Rapist Had Covered Face, Hands

The woman saw Helms' face for the first time in person Monday. She said he covered her face during the attack.

His victims included a then-15-year-old girl, two sisters and the woman who spoke to a reporter Monday. She was attacked in 1983 after moving to Tampa. The Tampa Tribune is not identifying her because of the nature of the crime.

Even though Helms told investigators he committed 12 rapes and attempted four more, police and prosecutors negotiated a plea agreement rather than go to trial because of a lack of strong physical evidence or witness identifications in all but his last sexual assault.

Authorities said the culprit always wore gloves or socks over his hands, preventing fingerprint comparisons. At the time of the rapes, which began in January 1983, Helms was a kitchen worker at the Colonnade restaurant on Bayshore Boulevard and at the former TGI Friday's restaurant in Hyde Park.

Two other victims have since died, said the victim interviewed Monday. Others have left the Tampa area.

The woman said the attack changed her. 'It has made me more aware of the strength I have,' she said. 'It has given me a constant awareness of everyone's vulnerability, how your education and background doesn't protect you from this kind of crime. It can happen to everybody.'

She now has an alarm system and a dog at her home but doesn't like to live fearfully. 'Twenty-four years is a long time to heal and go on with your life, which I certainly have,' she said. 'A lot has happened in my life. A great deal has been very positive.'

Although she said she would prefer that Helms and other violent sex offenders be locked away for life, she accepts that he will be released 'because it's the way the system works.'

The woman added, 'I really do hope the guy can stay out trouble and turn his life around. I really wish him the best, sincerely, I do.'

Agreement Restricts Helms

Defense attorney Cohen said prosecutors were smart to allow Helms' release, because the contract prevents a defense appeal of the law under which Helms was committed. Cohen said allowing the release of Helms and others like him prevents defense attorneys from having the law overturned on the grounds it is punitive in nature.

In 2002, Helms signed a contract with Hillsborough County for his release, which, among other things, required he continue treatment on an outpatient basis. A failed lie detector test a few months later, though, put him back in the treatment center in 2003 under the Jimmy Ryce Act.

Cohen said the two psychiatrists who evaluated Helms before this latest release concurred with evaluations by doctors the last time he was committed, that he is 'unlikely to reoffend in a sexually violent manner.'

Peters said the prosecution had no option under the law but to agree to his release. Peters said she negotiated the agreement placing severe restrictions on his remaining six years of probation. Among the requirements are that Helms abide by a curfew, submit to lie detector tests and obtain sex-offender and drug treatment.

The Ryce Act uses a civil-court jury to confine some sex offenders to a treatment center indefinitely after they have served their prison sentences. An offender is released when another jury decides he or she is ready to re-enter society.

Rather than allowing that often-unconditional release, prosecutors use a program where offenders can sign a contract stipulating conditions of release. The contracts allow offenders to return to society without a jury's approval.

Reporters Stephen Thompson and Valerie Kalfrin contributed to this report. Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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