90-year-old Lake Alfred city commissioner arrested on 300 counts of child pornography: Affidavit
LAKE ALFRED, Fla. - A city commissioner in Lake Alfred was arrested after deputies found him in possession of hundreds of images and videos of child pornography, according to his affidavit.
Charles Lake, 90, was arrested on Thursday afternoon and charged with 300 counts of child pornography.
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According to his arrest affidavit, deputies with the Polk County Sheriff's Office served a warrant at his Lake Alfred home at around 12:58 p.m. on Thursday where he admitted to possessing child porn on his computer.
Authorities further searched his home and found a thumb drive plugged into a laptop that contained 300 video/image files depicting children between the ages of 2 and 12 years old engaged in sexual acts. Some of these files depicted multiple prepubescent victims, according to authorities.
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In his affidavit, Lake is alleged to have admitted to reviewing the child pornography on his computer several times a month and watching pornography weekly.
"As far as we know, it wasn't any children in the neighborhood or something like that, but it’s just scary to know that he's been there all these years," said Tyla Hernandez, a neighbor who has known Lake since she was little.
"He was always kind. I have an 11-year-old and she'd come outside. I'd never even imagine that. I never saw anything that would think something that was child porn, or he's into that or anything like that," said Isaac Escobar, another neighbor.
According to the City of Lake Alfred's website, Lake was elected to the city commission in 2012 and served as the city's mayor for several years.