A major human trafficking sting operation in Polk County, Florida, led to the arrest of 157 suspects, including 25 illegal immigrants and three Disney employees. Law enforcement officials also rescued four potential human trafficking victims as part of the operation.
In a Thursday press release announcing the results of “Operation Autumn Sweep,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Office wrote, “During a five-day-long undercover human trafficking operation, which began on October 2, 2024, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Vice Unit arrested 157 suspects involved in illegal acts related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, or aiding and abetting prostitutes. Three other suspects were arrested for traveling to sexually batter juveniles.”
During a news conference on Thursday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters that 47 of the suspects were prostitutes, 96 of the suspects were clients, one suspect was a human trafficker, and 14 suspects had various pending charges. Judd said the youngest client was 15, and the oldest client was 61.
In the press release, the sheriff’s office said that law enforcement detectives charged the suspects with 35 felonies and 201 misdemeanors during the course of the investigation. The sheriff’s office also noted that the suspects’ criminal histories included a total of 455 misdemeanors and 327 felonies.
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During Thursday’s news conference, Judd said that 25 of the suspects were illegal immigrants from multiple different countries. He added, “16 percent of these total arrests were people who should not even have been in this country, but they were here, and they were here because we have a federal government that enabled these criminals to come into the country, and then treated them very well after the criminals came here illegally.”
Fox 13 reported that two of the potential human trafficking victims were illegal immigrants who were forced to perform 20 sexual “tricks” each day to repay the individual who smuggled them into the United States. Judd added that if the two victims refused to comply, their human trafficking handler would choke and slap them.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said that of the 157 suspects arrested in the recent sting operation, 26 of the suspects said they were married, while others said they were engaged. Three of the suspects were Disney World employees, according to the sheriff’s office.
During Thursday’s news conference, Judd remarked, “What would any of our undercover operations be – where we’re dealing with human trafficking, prostitution, child predators – without Disney? We always arrest Disney employees.”
