LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A church overseer and youth pastor with Heritage Community Church is no longer a member after his arrest on video voyeurism charges.
Charles Barton “Bart” Lucas, 59, of Fruitland Park, was arrested June 19 after an IT director at his workplace found inappropriate photographs of young girls on his computer. Investigators say the images were recorded by a camera Lucas placed in the church’s restroom and baptismal area.
“We also want to clarify that Bart Lucas is no longer an overseer at Heritage Community Church and is not serving in any leadership, volunteer or ministry capacity whatsoever,” read a statement Heritage Community posted on its social media accounts. “We are deeply saddened that this situation may be causing additional pain, and we are committed to providing support and care to those who need it.”
Lucas’ photo had remained on the Heritage Community’s website for two days after his arrest.
“The pastor of the church is cooperating with us,” said Sgt. John Vachon, with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. “Of course, you know, they’re heartbroken about this whole situation, but anything we need, they’ve been able to provide us with it.”
According to the arrest report, “There were multiple photos of topless pubescent photos of what clearly were white females.” The report also said there were “upskirt style photos of unidentified juveniles and possible adult females.”
Investigators said they’re working to identify the victims in these images, and there could be more.
“The videos were located in a cloud storage device, so there’s potentially more videos that just haven’t been located yet, and there’s potential more victims,” said Sgt. Vachon.
Lucas was fired from his company after his arrest and is due back in court in July. Heritage Community said it will offer counseling to anyone affected by this. The church also hired an electronic detection company to conduct a sweep of the premises to ensure no unauthorized recording devices are present.
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