Mental health counselor arrested on sex-related charges

Authorities in Pinellas County have arrested a 78-year-old mental health counselor accused of arranging for the sexual abuse of two juveniles.

Charles J. Friedlander of Fort Myers was charged with seduction of a child using the Internet and traveling to meet a minor.

According to jail affidavits, Friedlander used an Internet chat room to solicit another person to engage in physical and sexual abuse of the two children, ages 10 and 11. Friedlander spoke with a person that he believed to be the children's parent. It was, in fact, a Pinellas sheriff's deputy.

Friedlander then traveled to Pinellas County with the intent of physically and sexually abusing the two children, the affidavit said. He brought with him unspecified "implements" of physical abuse.

Friedlander drove up from Fort Myers on Monday for a prearranged rendezvous and was arrested, authorities said. The arrest culminated a monthlong investigation that involved the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Friedlander was released from jail this morning on $20,000 bail. He did not immediately return phone messages.

Jonathan Abel, Times staff writer

[Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]