Charles Young, the chief financial officer of the BizLinc business incubator in Lake Wales, has been arrested at a residence in Lithia in Hillsborough County on an active Polk County warrant, Lake Wales News has confirmed through multiple sources.
BizLinc CFO Charles Young was being held awaiting transfer to Polk County on a warrant charging him with two felonies.
Available online information shows that Young has been charged with grand theft of $100,000 or more, and a second count of obtaining property by fraud, grand theft, and $50,000. After his arrest on Saturday morning, he was transferred to the Orient Road jail and held without bond to await transfer to Polk County.
Community and City staff members celebrated the grand opening of the new 3,570-square-foot business incubator, BizLINC. Members will receive various training and business-related services, such as strategic planning, financial reporting, technical assistance, e-commerce support, public-speaking certifications, office space and much more. “Giving local entrepreneurs the tools to succeed will positively impact Lake Wales. New business will open and citizens will have more options,” City Manager James Slaton said.
BizLINC is facilitated by the Florida Development Corporation (FDC) through a three-year grant agreement with the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency. The facility is located in the historic core of the city at 225 Lincoln Avenue. Entrepreneurs interested in becoming a members are encouraged to visit, mybizlinc.com.
Young is a partner, along with Derrek Blue and Efrain Cornier, in Florida Development Corp. LLC, which has a $1.2 million no-recourse contract with the City of Lake Wales for the operation of the business incubator at 225 Lincoln Avenue. The officers of that corporation then created BizLinc LLC, apparently to run the operation. As of Monday, the “about” page of the FDC website has been removed.
Without seeing the underlying affidavit, the media cannot report with certainty that these charges are related to the Lake Wales BizLinc venture.
Charles Young served as an officer of Florida Development Corp and as the registered agent and CFO of BizLinc. BizLinc was listed as the registered agent of FDC.
Young’s past criminal record is not extensive and according to State of Florida records includes the use of an out-of-state driver’s license when his own was suspended in 2018 and an arrest for “unlawful acts as a precursor to prostitution” in 2020.
The media raised multiple questions about the operation of the incubator. That resulted in a furious defense of the operation from Lake Wales Mayor Jack Hilligoss, who referred to the report and a news reporter as “wicked.”
City Manager James Slaton subsequently retained Carr Riggs and Ingram, a private CPA firm, to conduct an audit of the incubator. Attempts to gain comment from the auditing firm have thus far been unsuccessful.
The News has also reached out to Slaton for comment, but he declined, saying only that the city would be issuing a press release regarding the matter in the near future.