Counselor Accused Of Arranging For Sex With Boys

Federal authorities say a 78-year-old Fort Myers mental health counselor drove to Tampa to meet two prepubescent boys so he could beat them and have sex with them.

Charles Jackson Friedlander is charged with using a computer to attempt to arrange sex with the boys, ages 10 and 11, a charge that carries a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life.

Friedlander's attorney, George Tragos, said his client has a Ph.D. and is "a licensed mental health counselor with a spotless record. We're confident that when the conversations are put into context during the trial, he will be acquitted."

Tragos declined to comment further.

According to a federal complaint:

Pinellas County Sheriff's Cpl. Kurt T. Romanosky posed online as a 36-year-old father interested in incest and the physical abuse of children.

He was contacted by Friedlander, who used the America Online screen name "Captoes," and the two talked at length about administering corporal punishment.

Friedlander said he used to beat his now-adult son with a razor strap when the son was 11 years old. He said he had access to a friend's grandchildren who would sometimes stay with him, and that parents thought he was too severe in his discipline.

He said the friend's grandchildren were 12 and 14 and he would be "tearing them up" daily. He said he would put them in a special room for discipline and that the boys were "sometimes tied."

He also described using a heavy "garrison belt" and a "crop" to strike his son in the past.

The detective told Friedlander he had friends who shared the same interests who would come over to his house. Friedlander agreed to meet, expressed an interest in the undercover detective's 10- and 11-year-old sons. He said he would bring his razor strap, English crop and Garrison belt to the meeting.

He also discussed sexual activities with the boys.

He met with the detective on Monday and was placed under arrest, the complaint states.

In researching Friedlander's background, the detective learned that he is a licensed mental health counselor who claims to lecture on divorce and custody issues in North and South Carolina.