{"id":44439,"date":"2024-04-19T14:06:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T18:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=44439"},"modified":"2024-04-19T14:46:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T18:46:31","slug":"lake-alfred-commissioner-charged-with-possessing-300-images-and-videos-of-child-por","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/04\/19\/lake-alfred-commissioner-charged-with-possessing-300-images-and-videos-of-child-por\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Alfred commissioner charged with possessing 300 images and videos of child porn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Lake Alfred commissioner was arrested Thursday afternoon and faces charges of possessing roughly 300 images of&nbsp;child pornography.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"414\" height=\"512\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Charles-Lake-Mug-Shot.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44440\" style=\"width:273px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Charles-Lake-Mug-Shot.jpeg 414w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Charles-Lake-Mug-Shot-243x300.jpeg 243w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Charles Oswald Lake, 90, was arrested by Polk County Sheriff&#8217;s Office and faces one second-degree felony enhanced charge of possession of child pornography. Lake is being held in jail without bond until his first court appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I do not know how much child porn I possess, but I have been looking at it since I lived in New Jersey (prior to 2008),&#8221; Lake told detectives, according to a police affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n        <div id=\"ep-gutenberg-content-efa75f5fc07c79fe84ea4c0eb5a38686\" class=\"ep-gutenberg-content aligncenter ep-percentage-width   ep-content-protection-disabled\" data-embed-type=\"PDF\" data-embed-url=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Charles-Lake-REDACTED-affidavit.pdf\">\n            <div class=\"embedpress-inner-iframe emebedpress-unit-percent ep-doc-efa75f5fc07c79fe84ea4c0eb5a38686\" style=\"max-width:600%\" id=\"embedpress-pdf-1713549861064\">\n                <div >\n                    <div class=\"ep-embed-content-wraper\"><div class=\"position-right-wraper gutenberg-pdf-wraper\"><iframe title=\"Charles Lake &#8211; REDACTED affidavit\" class=\"embedpress-embed-document-pdf embedpress-pdf-1713549861064\" style=\"width:600%;height:600px; max-width:100%; display: inline-block\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/embedpress\/assets\/pdf\/web\/viewer.html?&#038;file=https%3A%2F%2Flakelandgazette.info%2Fnews%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FCharles-Lake-REDACTED-affidavit.pdf#key=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\" frameborder=\"0\" oncontextmenu=\"return false;\"><\/iframe> <\/div><\/div>                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    \n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last November, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theledger.com\/story\/news\/crime\/2023\/10\/10\/polk-sheriffs-online-sex-predator-sting-nabs-6-men\/71134108007\/\">National Center for Missing and Exploited Children<\/a>&nbsp;received information from Adobe Inc. via its CyberTipline indicating an individual internet service provider address, or ISP, had uploaded three images of a girl, between the ages of 7 and 10. The photos showed the girl in varying stages of undress and &#8220;exposed in a lewd manner,&#8221; according to a police affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The analyst assigned to the CyberTipline report traced the ISP address to somewhere in Lake Alfred. A subpoena was filed with the State Attorney&#8217;s Office to determine owned the ISP from Spectrum, or Charter Communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Jan. 10, information from Spectrum showed the ISP address belonged to Lake, according to the affidavit. Law enforcement then used DAVID, a database of drivers and registered motor vehicle information, to located Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On April 18, a search warranted was approved by Assistant State Attorney Monica Smith to search Lake&#8217;s home, where deputies said he lives alone. Polk County detectives began their search about 1 p.m. Thursday with Lake present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lake told detectives he had child porn on his computer, most of which was saved to an external thumb drive in his office, according to the affidavit. A search of Lake&#8217;s office found a silver Patriot thumb drive labeled with &#8220;XXX&#8221; on the underside of the USB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Detectives said they found 300 images and videos of pre-teenage children, male and female, on the thumb drive. In the affidavit, detectives describe young children posed in a lewd manner or&nbsp;engaged in sexual activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the affidavit, Lake told detectives he became fascinated with child porn and how it came to exist while working as a journalist, and he developed an interest in where it originated and why such young children are involved. Lake had a 50-year career in magazine publishing in New York City, according to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mylakealfred.com\/directory.aspx?EID=26\">his biography on the City of Lake Alfred&#8217;s website.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lake told detectives he only began saving child pornography on his devices within the past two years, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under Florida law, child pornography charges can be enhanced when an individual possesses 10 or more images, the content includes a child younger than 5, or any movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lake&#8217;s term serving in Seat 2 on the Lake Alfred Commission is currently scheduled to run through April 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lake Alfred City Manager Ryan Leavengood told 8 the media the city is \u201cshocked and dismayed\u201d by the charges levied against the city commissioner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe City was not a part of the law enforcement investigation, but we will fully cooperate with the Sheriff\u2019s Office and any other investigative agencies on this matter,\u201d Leavengood said in a statement. \u201cWe have contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney\u2019s Office and requested further guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lake\u2019s bond was set at $1.5 million on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Lake Alfred commissioner was arrested Thursday afternoon and faces charges of possessing roughly 300 images of&nbsp;child pornography. Charles Oswald Lake, 90, was arrested by Polk County Sheriff&#8217;s Office and&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}