A big human smuggling sting operation in Polk County, Florida, led to the arrest of 157 defendants, including 25 unlawful immigrants and three Disney staff. Additionally, as part of the procedure, law enforcement officials rescued four possible victims of human trafficking.
In a Thursday media release announcing the findings of” Operation Autumn Sweep”, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office wrote,” During a five-day-long undercover human trafficking activity, which began on October 2, 2024, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Vice Unit , arrested 157 suspects , involved in illegal acts related to soliciting brothels, offering to commit adultery, or aiding and abetting prostitutes.  , Three additional suspects were arrested for traveling to sexually flour youths”.
During a news conference on Thursday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told investigators that 47 of the defendants were brothels, 96 of the defendants were consumers, one think was a mortal smuggler, and 14 defendants had several pending charges. According to Judd, the youngest customer was 15 and the oldest consumer was 61.
In the media launch, the sheriff’s office said that law enforcement police charged the offenders with 35 crimes and 201 offenses during the course of the analysis. The sheriff’s department also noted that the suspects ‘ criminal histories included a complete of 455 offenses and 327 crimes.
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During Thursday’s announcement meeting, Judd said that 25 of the defendants were unlawful immigrants from many different countries. He continued, “16 percentage of these complete arrests were individuals who should not even have been here, but they were here because we had a federal government that allowed these crooks to enter the country and therefore treated them very well after the crooks came these illegally.”
According to Fox 13, two of the probable human trafficking victims were illegal immigrants who were forced to perform 20 physical” tips” daily in exchange for the money smuggled into the United States. Judd added that their human smuggling handler may choke and hit the two victims if they refused to comply.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said that of the 157 suspects arrested in the new bite activity, 26 of the offenders said they were married, while others said they were engaged. Three of the defendants were Disney World people, according to the sheriff’s office.
During Thursday’s news conference, Judd remarked,” What would any of our covert operations be – where we’re dealing with people prostitution, prostitution, child carnivores– without Disney? We always arrest Disney employees”.