Four workers at the Disney theme parks in Orlando, Florida, are among more than a hundred arrested in an undercover operation against the human trafficking in this state in the southern United States, authorities announced on Wednesday.
In a press conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd reported the arrest of 108 people as part of “Operation Sadness March 2,” a six-day undercover raid in Florida that focused on human trafficking, prostitution and child abuse.
The ages of the detainees range between 17 and 67 years oldaccording to details of the investigation.
One of the Disney employees arrested is a 27-year-old man who worked as a lifeguard in Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, Judd pointed out.
That man allegedly sent sexual images of himself and graphic sexual messages to an undercover detective who pretended to be a 14 year old girl online, the sheriff added.
Another Disney employee arrested is a 24 year old man who worked at the Cosmic restaurant. The other two are a 45-year-old IT (Information Technology) specialist and a 27-year-old software developer.
“Four arrests of this magnitude in one week is simply remarkable.”Judd emphasized at the press conference.
During the operation, detectives identified the prostitutes who posted ads online, as well as “customers” who searched for them, authorities said.
The intention was identify and release the victims who were being forced into prostitution (human trafficking), or any person who participated in trafficking,” described the Polk (central Florida) Sheriff’s Office.
the undercover detectives they communicated through the internet with the suspects and arranged a meeting at a place where they were arrested, Judd said without specifying the location.
According to data released by the Police, a 66-year-old man arrested told detectives that he was a retired judge from Chicagowhile another, 42, claimed to be married with eight children, and that he had left one of them at a soccer game to meet a prostitute.
In a list of “prominent” human trafficking suspects published today by local authorities, a woman appears, Tiffany Nashof Orlando, 32, who was arrested for trafficking another woman into prostitution.
“The online prostitution industry favors traffickers and victimizes those who are being trafficked. Our goal is to identify the victims, offer them help and find and arrest those who profit from the exploitation of human beings (…) Where there is prostitution, there is exploitation, disease, dysfunction and broken families“said the bailiff.