POLK COUNTY, Fla. – Sheriff Grady Judd is set to brief the media Friday morning on a massive new undercover operation that netted 266 total arrests, including 19 child predators highlighted just a day earlier and more than two dozen suspects in the country illegally.
The operation, called “Polk Around and Find Out,” was a multi-day joint-agency investigation focused on human trafficking, child predators, and illegal immigration.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that 247 of those arrests were related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, aiding or transporting prostitutes, and other related charges.
The remaining 19 arrests were the child sexual predators from “Operation Child Protector VIII,” which the sheriff’s office detailed on Wednesday. RELATED: “Santa Is Pis*ed” Polk County Predator Sting Nets 19 Arrests Including Santa Claus
Sheriff Judd will be joined at the Friday morning press conference by other agency heads, sheriffs, and police chiefs. The briefing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m.
Of the 247 human-trafficking-related arrests, 127 suspects who traveled to commit prostitution were screened by detectives and social services organizations to determine if they were being trafficked or exploited. Those individuals were offered services at the operation. During the investigation, authorities identified seven possible human trafficking victims.
According to the sheriff’s office, 108 suspects were arrested specifically for soliciting a prostitute and traveling to the undercover location to negotiate having sex in exchange for money.
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Two of those suspects brought children with them to the undercover location and were additionally charged with child neglect. Another 12 suspects were arrested for aiding, abetting, transporting, or deriving proceeds from prostitutes.
Among the 247 arrests tied to human trafficking, 34 are in the country illegally. Another 22 suspects are collecting public assistance, which the sheriff’s office said amounts to over $15K a month collectively.
Authorities say the operation was designed not just to make arrests but also to identify victims of trafficking. The seven possible victims discovered during the investigation were offered help from social service organizations on site.
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