LAKE ALFRED, Fla — A former Lake Alfred city commissioner and former mayor was charged with 2,896 additional child pornography charges on Wednesday after the initial 300 counts he was arrested for.
Charles Lake, 90, is facing 3,196 felony charges following his original arrest on April 18 when Polk County Sheriff's deputies found child porn on his computer.
After the initial arrest, a forensic technician searched all of his electronic storage devices and found more than 2,000 videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of children between the ages of six months and 12 years old.
"Detectives discovered that Mr. Lake had a very 'compartmentalized' system of organizing and categorizing the thousands of child sex abuse images he had," a news release from the sheriff's office read.
Lake was booked into jail on numerous second-degree felony charges. The judge set bond for Lake at $5,000 per count. He was also appointed a public defender and will be on house arrest with a GPS monitor if he makes bail.
He told deputies he was a journalist for years and was fascinated with child porn.
"Charles Lake is a public official with a dark, twisted involvement with the exploitative child pornography trade. In the past, he has done photography for the city and local schools, and has assisted people with their computers," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.
According to the Lake Alfred staff directory, Lake was vice mayor before serving as mayor from 2015 to 2019. He also served on a transportation board, an environment committee and was a member of the chamber of commerce, among many other involvements.
He resigned from the City Commission on April 23, after he was arrested, according to a letter to the Mayor.