Eye doctor may avoid jail with sex-case plea
Lange: State drops exposure charges
By
Suevon Lee
Star-Banner
Published: Monday, August 25, 2008 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, August 25, 2008 at 7:01 a.m.
OCALA — The Ocala eye doctor who was arrested in Leesburg in May 2007 and accused of soliciting two women for sex could avoid jail time if a judge approves a proposed plea deal.
Prosecutors have offered Michael P. Lange six months of probation and 20 hours of community service in exchange for a no-contest plea to two counts of solicitation of prostitution, said Bill Gladson, division supervisor for the State Attorney's Office in Lake County.
Lange, 46, would owe at least $1,000 in fines and owe the Leesburg Police Department $175 for the cost of its investigation. Lange would not be adjudicated guilty.
Gladson said the deal can only be made if Lake County Judge Terry T. Neal decides to approve it.
Lange, an optometrist with Lange Eye Care, has offices in Ocala, Gainesville, Summerfield and The Villages. He could have faced up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine per count.
Lange could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Michael H. Lafay, did not return calls for comment.
Lange is accused of soliciting two women, then ages 19 and 22, in a parking lot on U.S. 441 in Leesburg.
The women told police that they were driving on U.S. 441 when Lange pulled up to their car in his black Mercedes. They said he made sexual remarks to them, according to the report.
The women and Lange pulled into a parking lot. They told police that Lange offered them $20 if they would show their breasts as he fondled himself. They drove in their cars to a second parking lot, but the transaction never took place.
Lange offered them $50 if he could touch their breasts, the report said, and raised the offer to $500 if they would get a room with him and have sex.
Police drove up to them in that second parking lot, the report said, and found Lange in his car, his shirt off and his pants pulled down. Although Lange told the women to tell the police they were just talking, they told officers the whole story, according to an arrest report.
Lange was eventually charged with two counts each of soliciting prostitution, indecent exposure in public, and lewd and lascivious behavior. In the proposed plea deal, the state agreed to drop the indecent exposure counts.
According to his Web site, Lange moved to Ocala in March 1993. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and received his specialized training at the Eye Surgery Center of Louisiana.
Suevon Lee may be reached at suevon.lee@starbanner.com or 867-4065.
