'Hyde Park Rapist' moving out, landlord says

Man convicted of multiple assaults declared unwelcome after arrival
1-19-2008 Florida:


MELBOURNE - Bobby Joe Helms, known as the "Hyde Park Rapist," may have to seek new housing after his arrival in Melbourne made his landlords and the neighborhood uneasy.

The 51-year-old Helms had hoped to embark on a new life here, far beyond the walls of an Arcadia sex offender treatment center.

But after a news media uproar greeted his arrival at the small apartment complex at Avocado Avenue and Aurora Road in the Old Eau Gallie neighborhood, Helms already was declared unwelcome.

"We understand he'll be moving," Lena Pittman, who owns the complex with her husband, Herbert, said Friday when contacted by phone. "We will take care of it, and he will no longer be there."

Helms is known as the "Hyde Park rapist" for admittedly raping 12 Tampa area women and attempting to rape four others during three years in the 1980s. He served 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to the rapes. In 1999, Helms was released on probation and has been in a secured state treatment center since then, except for a nine-month period in 2002-2003.

"It makes me sad that I created so much sadness by coming here," Helms said Friday as he exited the Brevard County sheriff's office in Rockledge after registering as a sex offender.

He said he moved to Melbourne to be closer to his two sisters and two brothers, and to bring peace to his victims.

"I know in my heart I'm not dangerous," Helms said. "I just want a chance to prove I'm a different person, I'm a lot older and wiser."

Under city and state law, Helms will receive at least six visits a year from the Melbourne Police Department and at least two from the sheriff's office, Melbourne police spokesman Cmdr. Ron Bell said.

Because his crimes were committed before the enactment of the Jessica Lunsford Act, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said he will not be required to wear a GPS monitor or abide by a curfew.

Betty Moore, president of the Eau Gallie Crimewatch, said the neighbors are concerned because they're weren't notified ahead of time.

The Pittmans, she said, weren't given "the whole truth" about Helms before he moved in.

"We've worked very hard to create a family atmosphere in Eau Gallie," Moore said.

"We're working on putting together an art district which will be a walking neighborhood and bringing in a lot of people. And my personal opinion is I don't feel that his presence will be an asset to the neighborhood."

However, Brenda Garma, a Palm Beach Gardens-based certified therapist who specializes in sexual disorders and sex offender treatment, said offenders shouldn't have to be monitored closely, if their treatment was successful.

Ostracizing them makes them more likely to reoffend, she said.

Helms' attorney, Jeanine Cohen, blamed the news media for scaring the neighbors.

She emphasized the crimes were committed 20 years ago, and Helms was on alcohol and drugs at the time.

Once caught, she said he confessed to rapes that hadn't even been reported to police.

"They're not portraying him as a guy who did commit rapes 20 years ago or as a person who's gone through and been successful with the inpatient treatment, and that's a big difference," Cohen said.

"So I can imagine there's community outrage when there's news that there's this dangerous rapist coming to live next door."

Helms said he has given up the alcohol and drugs that plagued his life since age 10, and began attending church.

He is currently seeking employment.

"I'm trying to turn my life around," Helms said. "It ain't a day I don't think about the pain and suffering I created and that motivates me not to go back." ..more.. by KEYONNA SUMMERS , FLORIDA TODAY