Former Lake Alfred commissioner faces another 2,896 child-porn charges

Sara-Megan Walsh, Lakeland Ledger
·2 min read
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Former Lake Alfred Commissioner Charles Lake has been hit with an additional 2,896 enhanced second-degree felony charges for possession of child pornography. Lake remains in policy custody after his April 18 arrest.
Former Lake Alfred Commissioner Charles Lake has been hit with an additional 2,896 enhanced second-degree felony charges for possession of child pornography. Lake remains in policy custody after his April 18 arrest.

A former Lake Alfred commissioner has had an additional 2,896 enhanced felony charges of possessing child pornography filed against him, according to Polk County Sheriff's Office. Charles Lake, 90, of Lake Alfred, was arrested April 18 by Polk deputies after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about the downloading of explicit images was traced to his individual internet service provider address. Lake is facing a total 3,196 enhanced second-degree felony charges with these latest additions. He resigned from city office representing Seat 2 on Lake Alfred's commission on April 23. His term was set to expire in April 2027.

"Charles Lake is a public official with a dark, twisted involvement with the exploitative child pornography trade," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press statement. "In the past, he has done photography for the city and local schools, and has assisted people with their computers."

A search of Lake's home led deputies to find a silver external thumb drive labeled with "XXX" that deputies said contained 300 images and videos of pre-teenage children, both male and female, posed in a lewd manner or engaging in sexual activity, according to a police affidavit.

During the search, Polk deputies seized other electronic storage devices from Lake's home.

A PCSO forensic technician examined all these devices and recovered 2,896 additional video and image files depicting pornographic sexual images of children ranging in age from six months to 12 years old, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Lake had a "compartmentalized" system of organizing and categorizing thousands of pornographic images and video, according to deputies. The images found included child sexual abuse.

Polk County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone who may be aware or witnessed any inappropriate interactions, images or involvement of Lake to contact them at 863-298-6200.

Lake currently remains in custody at the South County jail, according to Polk County Sheriff's Office Jail Inmate Lookup.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: PCSO: Former Lake Alfred official faces 2,896 more child porn charges