If you were at Heritage Community Church in Fruitland Park and a camera was where it should never have been, we believe you.

If you were baptized at Heritage Community Church in Fruitland Park, changed there, used that bathroom, or your daughter did, this is about you. The congregation is small and independent, in Lake County, and one of its longtime members, Charles Barton Lucas, 59, was arrested by the Lake County Sheriff's Office on June 19, 2026, on digital voyeurism charges. The church's own website had listed him as an "Overseer." Deputies say a concealed camera had been inside a church bathroom, and in a room where adolescent girls changed after a baptism service; some of the videos, they say, go back to the early 2000s. He has pleaded not guilty to every count in both cases, and nothing has been pleaded against the church, by anyone. Nothing on this page says otherwise.

WatchingWatching: the first case has a docket date on September 28, 2026, and a motion to consolidate the two cases, filed September 11, is set for hearing on October 1, 2026, before Circuit Judge Cary F. Rada in Tavares. No civil filing names the church; we checked the Lake County clerk's index on September 22, 2026.

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5 questions. Your answers are private and go to one person.

This applies to you no matter what

You weren't a child. Four of the first five counts, by Inside Lake's reading of the arrest report, involved adults. Florida's digital voyeurism statute doesn't ask your age to make it a crime; it asks it to set the penalty.
You never saw a camera. Nobody did. Deputies said the cameras were gone by the time they looked. What exists is the footage, on a work computer and in a cloud account, which is how the whole thing came to light.
It was years ago. Some of the videos, the sheriff's office says, go back to the early 2000s, and the 21 counts in the second case carry an offense date of October 1, 2022 on the clerk's index. Old doesn't mean over. It means a lawyer reads your dates, and the section further down says how.
You have no idea whether you're on any of it. Most people won't. Detectives identified some of the girls and women; Sgt. John Vachon said in June there could be more. That's a question for the sheriff's office and a lawyer, not one you have to answer before you fill in the form.
You love that church and want no part of anything against it. Nothing on this page is against it. The church isn't accused of anything, and the questions above don't ask you to say a word about it.

Charles Barton Lucas: what the public record says, and when

None of what follows is ours. The charges were filed by the State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit in Lake County Circuit Court, the account of what the cameras recorded is the sheriff's office's, the pleas and the docket dates are the clerk's, and reporters wrote it up. Every line links to where it came from. He has pleaded not guilty to all of it, and until a court says otherwise every count is an accusation, not a fact.

June 19–20, 2026

The Lake County Sheriff's Office arrested Lucas on the evening of June 19 on five counts of digital voyeurism, one of them involving a victim younger than 16. The material, deputies said, turned up on a work computer belonging to a local business and on a cloud drive: videos of adolescent girls changing clothes and of the inside of a church bathroom, some of which date to the early 2000s. The church's website listed him as an "Overseer," and in a statement the church said it was "cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities." All of it charges. None of it findings. ClickOrlando (News 6).

June 22, 2026

WFTV, reading the arrest report, put the camera "in the church's restroom and baptismal area." "The pastor of the church is cooperating with us," Sgt. John Vachon said, and investigators were "working to identify the victims in these images, and there could be more." Heritage Community Church said Lucas was "no longer an overseer" and "not serving in any leadership, volunteer or ministry capacity whatsoever." WFTV.

June 23, 2026

Released on bond, Villages-News reported, on conditions: no internet, no contact with children, family contact supervised. The images had been found during a routine computer upgrade at RoMac Building Supply, where he had been vice president of sales, and the company turned the laptop over to police. The church said its leaders had spoken with the lead detective, had hired a company to sweep the building for any other devices, and was offering counseling. Villages-News.

July 7 and 9, 2026

Case 35-2026-CF-001621-AXXX-01, Lake County Circuit Court. A not guilty plea was entered on July 7, and the State Attorney filed the Information, the formal charging document, on July 9. The docket shows five surety bonds written on June 20 through Bankers Insurance Company. Lake County Clerk, ShowCase index (search case 35-2026-CF-001621-AXXX-01).

August 4–5, 2026

He came to the Tavares courthouse at 11 a.m. for a hearing on his own motion to use the internet again, and left in custody on a warrant in a second case, 35-2026-CF-002041-AXXX-01: 21 new counts, 15 of digital voyeurism and 6 of digital voyeurism involving a victim under 16, which the outlets added up to 26 in all. The sheriff's release described "a concealed camera inside a church bathroom and a room where adolescent girls were changing after a baptism service." He was released on bond the same evening. "We're being fully cooperative," the church's administrative pastor, Melvin Davison, told News 6. The clerk's index lists an offense date of October 1, 2022 for all 21 counts. ClickOrlando (News 6).

September 2–8, 2026

Not guilty to all 21 counts in the second case, entered September 2. In the first case the State filed an Information on September 4 and an amended Information on September 8, and the clerk's index now lists 19 counts there, not five. Together, 40 counts under section 810.145 on the index as of September 22, 2026, every one with a not guilty plea beside it and no disposition. The second case's docket also carries 14 Lake County Sheriff's Office victim notification forms, filed August 5. Lake County Clerk, ShowCase index (both cases).

September 11–17, 2026

September 11 brought two filings: a motion to consolidate the two cases, and, the same day, the State's motion to increase bond in the first case. Both come up together at a motion hearing on October 1, 2026, 1:30 p.m., Circuit Judge Cary F. Rada, Tavares. There's an earlier docket date in the first case too, September 28, 2026, also 1:30 p.m. And the church? We ran a party search of the clerk's index for "Heritage" on September 22, 2026. No case came back naming it, civil or otherwise. Lake County Clerk, ShowCase index (both cases).

We checked this on September 22, 2026, and the newest thing in it is from September 11–17, 2026. When something new gets filed or decided, it goes in here within 72 hours, with the link.

Who answers for what Charles Barton Lucas is accused of

Two different things are going on and it helps to keep them apart. The criminal cases belong to the State of Florida. They can end in a plea, a verdict, a dismissal; what they can't do is speak for you. A civil claim is yours, and on this record it runs against one person: the man charged. Florida's digital voyeurism statute, section 810.145, makes each secret recording and each copy passed on a separate offense, and a civil lawyer starts from the same place, one recording at a time, one person at a time.

The church is the place. That's all the record makes it. Nobody has sued Heritage Community Church, nobody has accused it of knowing, and the sheriff's office has said from the first week that its pastor was cooperating. Whether anyone other than the man charged has anything to answer for is a question no court has been asked, and we're not going to guess at it here. If a complaint naming the church is ever filed, this page changes the day we see it.

One more thing about the criminal side, because people ask. If you were recorded, Florida's constitution, Article I, section 16(b), gives you standing in that courtroom whether or not you ever file anything of your own: the right to notice of the public hearings, to be present, to be heard on his release, and to confer with the prosecutor about any plea. The State Attorney's office in Tavares is who you ask. That costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Your deadline: the Florida statute of limitations for a hidden-camera claim

If you were under 18 when it happened: seven years after your 18th birthday, or four years from the day you stopped depending on him, or four years from the day you learned both what was done and what it did to you, whichever comes last. That's Florida's rule for a civil action "founded on alleged abuse," section 95.11(8), and it reaches back to the definition of abuse in the child-welfare code. Whether a hidden camera in a changing room is "abuse" in that sense is something a lawyer will argue, not something a court has settled, and we'd rather tell you that than pretend. One thing we can say flat: the rule that puts no time limit on a child's claim, section 95.11(10), covers sexual battery and trafficking only. It doesn't cover this. Anyone who tells you there's no deadline here is wrong.

If you were an adult: four years for the recording itself, as an intentional tort, section 95.11(3)(n); two years for a negligence claim if it arose after March 24, 2023, and four if it arose before. The two years is the 2023 tort law's doing, chapter 2023-15, and that law only reaches causes of action that accrued after the day it was signed, which is why the date matters. Anyone recorded in 2024, 2025 or 2026 is inside every clock in this section, at any age; the arithmetic that follows is for the older material. The second case's counts carry an offense date of October 1, 2022 on the clerk's index; four years from that day is October 1, 2026, which is the plain arithmetic, not a verdict on anyone's case. Earlier than that, back to the early 2000s the sheriff's office mentioned, and the question becomes when you could have known, which is exactly the kind of thing a lawyer reads your dates for. Nobody is out until a lawyer has looked.

Your situation still qualifies even if

Nobody from the sheriff's office ever contacted you. The 14 notification forms on the docket went to the people detectives had identified by August; Sgt. Vachon said in June there could be more.
You told the church, or a parent, and nothing came of it. Or you told no one, ever.
You were an adult, and you feel like it doesn't count against what the girls went through. It counts. Four of the first five counts were adults.
You don't know whether you're on any recording, and you don't want to find out by yourself. You don't have to. That's a question the lawyer asks the State, not a thing you sit alone with.
You live in Georgia now, or anywhere else. The cases sit in Lake County and you don't need to.

The one place on this page

Heritage Community Church, Fruitland Park, Lake County. The bathroom and the room where girls changed after baptisms, in the sheriff's account. That's the whole map. If it was another church or youth setting in Lake County, choose the second option in the first question and say where on the call.

Questions people are asking

What is Charles Barton Lucas charged with?

Digital voyeurism under Florida statute 810.145, in two Lake County Circuit Court cases. The first, 35-2026-CF-001621-AXXX-01, began with five counts at his June 19, 2026 arrest and, after an amended Information on September 8, lists 19 on the clerk's index. The second, 35-2026-CF-002041-AXXX-01, filed August 4, has 21, six of them involving a victim under 16. He has pleaded not guilty to all of it. No count has been decided.

Has Heritage Community Church been sued?

No. Not as of September 22, 2026, when we searched the Lake County clerk's index by party name; nothing on it names the church. It's not a defendant anywhere. It's not accused of anything, and the sheriff's office has said since the first week that its pastor was cooperating. Should that change, this page changes with it.

Is there a statute of limitations for a hidden camera in Florida?

Yes, and it depends on your age at the time. Under 18: seven years past your 18th birthday, or four years from the day you learned what was done and what it did to you, whichever is later, under section 95.11(8), if a lawyer can bring the recording within Florida's definition of abuse. An adult: four years for the recording as an intentional tort. The no-deadline rule people have heard of, 95.11(10), is for sexual battery and trafficking and doesn't apply here. A lawyer reads your dates.

I was an adult. Do I count?

You do. The statute makes it a felony to secretly record any person where they'd expect privacy, whatever their age, and by Inside Lake's reading of the arrest report four of the first five counts involved adults. Your age changes the deadline and the penalty, not whether it counts.

Is there a fee for any of this?

Here, nothing. Every case is on contingency. There is no charge for the call, the review, or the case. The firm is paid only out of a recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe nothing.

What if I don't know whether I was recorded?

Most people won't know. Detectives identified some of the girls and women from the footage; the sheriff's office said in June there could be more. A lawyer can ask the State what the discovery shows about a particular person, and you have a constitutional right in Florida to confer with the prosecutor, so nobody expects you to know before you call.

Who sees your form

Kerim Eravci · Survivor Advocate · Not a lawyer

I was a victim, and I waited. Not because I didn't know what happened to me (I knew every day), but because I'd decided it was over, mine to carry, nobody's business. When I finally went looking for a lawyer, the answer came back in two words I'd never thought about: statute of limitations. My time had run out while I was busy getting through it.

What that has cost me since is a long story, and I'll tell you the whole thing in private, if you want it. The short version is the reason my name is on this page: I'm here to help people do what I wish I'd done, which is find out where you stand while the door's still open.

I'm not a lawyer. I read what you send, I call you once, on your terms, and nothing gets filed unless you say so. Ask sooner than I did.

Kerim Eravci is not an attorney. He's a survivor.

What happens next. Three steps, nothing more until you say so.

You answer 5 questions. Nothing is filed. Nothing starts.
A survivor calls you, once. Not a robot, not a call center. Someone who has been where you are.
You decide. You find out your options. If you want to stop there, you stop there.

How this works

ME2 Survivors Alliance protects the heart. Licensed FL attorneys do the legal work. We are not lawyers and we don't pretend to be.

You never pay a dollar

Every case is on contingency. There is no charge for the call, the review, or the case. The firm is paid only out of a recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe nothing.