UMATILLA, Fla. – The son of an infamous former Lake County sheriff has been arrested on charges that he molested a young girl.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office said 64-year-old Douglas McCall was arrested Thursday following allegations that he inappropriately touched the elementary school-
aged child and showed her sexually explicit videos involving children.
Sheriff's officials tell news outlets the girl told her mother, who contacted investigators.
Detectives tell News 6 they seized electronic devices from the home, including a laptop and thumb drives. Investigators said they will be examining the devices as part of the investigation.
The Orlando Sentinel reports McCall's father, Willis McCall, served as sheriff in Lake County for 30 years before he was charged with second-degree murder for kicking a black prisoner to death in 1972. He was eventually acquitted by an all-white jury. He died in 1994 at age 84.
Willis McCall was sheriff when he shot two men, one fatally, known as the Groveland Four. The four black men were accused of raping a white woman in 1949 without any hard evidence linking them to the crime.
A posse hunted down and killed one of the men, Ernest Thomas. The remaining three were beaten and convicted with hardly any evidence. When death sentences for two of the men, Walter Irvin and Samuel Shepard, were overturned, the Lake County sheriff shot them both while handcuffed, killing Shepherd. Irvin survived the shooting and stayed in prison.
The elder McCall always denied being a racist.
News 6 stopped by the younger McCall's home. The man who answered the door told us, "No comment."
The Sheriff's Office said they don't believe there are other victims and called the alleged molestation an isolated incident.
Officials said McCall could face additional charges depending on what detectives find on the devices.
The younger McCall is being held without bond. Jail records don't list a lawyer.