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'80s Rapist Told He Must Move Again

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

Bobby Joe Helms headed out of Judge J. Rogers Padgett's courtroom on Jan. 17 after he was released.

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2008

TAMPA - Bobby Joe Helms is on the move again.

A week after the "Hyde Park rapist" was released from a commitment center to live in a Melbourne apartment complex, he is working with the Florida Department of Corrections to find a new home.

Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters said the landlord at the apartment asked him to move but he can stay until state officials can find him a suitable home.

"That can happen at any time," Peters said.

Christie Telebrico, who lives within eyesight of the apartment complex, said she was nervous about Helms living there. She said many residents had complained about having a convicted rapist living so close and she guessed that was the reason the apartment landlord has asked him to leave.

On Jan. 17, Helms walked out of a Tampa courtroom a free man. He had served 13 years in prison then was committed under the state's Jimmy Ryce Act as a potential re-offender. He has spent much of the past eight years confined to a facility for secured treatment.

Helms has acknowledged raping 12 women and attempting to rape four more over three years in the 1980s. The youngest of his victims was 15.

In an agreement with prosecutors, approved by a judge, Helms said he would move across the state to Melbourne, where he hoped to start a new life away from the area where he caused so much misery.

Recently, two psychiatrists evaluated Helms and determined he is unlikely to re-offend. While released, Helms must take regular polygraph tests and continue outpatient treatment. Helms told the judge last week that he wants to live a quiet and healthy life.

Authorities and defense attorneys presented 15 addresses to the Florida Department of Corrections before the department agreed to a neighborhood where he could live.

In October Helms was released from commitment and expected to live in a Pinellas County mobile home park. When that arrangement fell through, he returned to the Florida Civil Commitment Center in Arcadia until the Melbourne apartment was found.

Peters said Helms will not return to Arcadia this time. He is working with state officials and will find a suitable home, probably within the next week.

Telebrico, the Melbourne woman who lives near Helms, said she moved to the freshly built housing development two years ago. At the time, she said, a tree-filled buffer separated her neighborhood from an area known for crime.

Recently, Habitat for Humanity has mowed down the tree buffer to build starter homes. The announcement that Helms moved in to the apartment complex worried many neighbors and spurred complaints, Telebrico said.

Telebrico said her five daughters amount to a temptation to someone with Helms' past. Their ages are 17, 15, 14, 10, and 1.

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