PUNTA GORDA, Fla.–Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced on June 17 the arrest of 12 suspects—one a Disney employee—on charges of soliciting children online for “grooming” purposes.
Judd identified them at a press conference, where he displayed their photos and gave a brief description of each suspect. One was a bus driver for Disney.
“He was doing this while he was on the clock for Disney … so if your bus was running late at Disney, he was busy taking pictures of himself and talking trash to what he thought was a little girl.”
On June 2, the Polk County Sheriff’s office, along with two other municipal police departments, conducted “Operation Child Protector II,” with detectives posing as children on social media platforms as well as other popular apps and online dating sites. The result was the arrest of 12 suspects who “prey upon and travel to meet children for unlawful sexual activity.” During the sting, the suspects communicated and solicited who they thought were children….