{"id":1461365,"date":"2024-03-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1461365"},"modified":"2024-03-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T05:00:00","slug":"florida-human-trafficking-sting-leads-to-228-arrests-13-potential-victims-rescued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/florida-human-trafficking-sting-leads-to-228-arrests-13-potential-victims-rescued\/1461365\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Human-Trafficking Sting Leads To 228 Arrests, 13 Potential Victims Rescued"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida Human-Trafficking Sting Leads To 228 Arrests, 13 Potential Victims Rescued<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

Almost 230 people were arrested, and 13 potential victims were rescued in a Florida human trafficking sting dubbed, \u201cOperation March Sadness 2024.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mug shots of those arrested in “Operation March Sadness 2024” for offering to commit prostitution in Polk County, Fla., on March 5, 2024. (screenshot Polk County Sheriff’s Department).<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

At a March 5 press conference<\/a>, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced the bust of a human trafficking operation on the west side of the county in Lakeland that led to 228 arrests and the rescue of 13 potential victims. The Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Department (PCSD) was assisted by police departments in Lakeland, Haines City, Davenport, Auburndale, Lake Hamilton, and the Winterhaven Fire and Rescue.<\/p>\n

According to a March 5 press release<\/a>, the \u201ceight-day-long undercover human trafficking operation\u201d began on Feb. 22 and targeted suspects \u201cinvolved in illegal acts related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, or aiding and abetting prostitutes.<\/p>\n

The 228 arrests consisted of \u201c66 prostitutes, 50 Johns, and 12 others,\u201d<\/strong> Sheriff Judd said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time we identified 13 potential victims of human trafficking,\u201d he added, saying his department has identified \u201c58 potential victims of human trafficking in one year\u201d through these operations.<\/p>\n

The significance, he said, was that this is \u201cthe most ever\u201d they have been able to identify.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Judd also noted that 48 of those arrested were from Polk County, saying they \u201cshould know better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about this,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe don\u2019t hide it, and if you don\u2019t know about it you obviously live under a rock. So, you\u2019ve had to learn the hard way.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the rest, he offered a warning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the last operation,\u201d he advised. \u201cWe\u2018ll have more, and we\u2019ll give you the opportunity to be arrested if you\u2019re stupid enough to show up. That\u2019s a guarantee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of those arrested, 42 are married.<\/strong> One was a commercial pilot. There were members of the Air Force, sports coaches, law enforcement officers, and people in the medical profession. Some were teachers.<\/p>\n

Two minors were arrested. <\/strong>\u201cThey came down to rob us,\u201d Sheriff Judd said, adding that they came armed with a BB gun that looked like a real gun.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat could have gone really bad for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A total of 17 firearms were confiscated from 15 different suspects and 44 had possession of narcotics.<\/p>\n

\u2018Addicted to This Cash\u2019<\/h2>\n

One of the men arrested was handling three illegal immigrant females from Venezuela for the head of a sex trafficking ring they believe is female.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe sets up their appointments, she puts their ads online, she tells them where to go,\u201d<\/strong> Sheriff Judd explained, adding that the three victims had to \u201cpay her $3,000 a piece\u201d by the end of the week as a means of \u201cpaying off their debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheriff Judd then said that the three victims told law enforcement that when they came to the United States illegally \u201cDHS gave them a form, and ID paperwork that allows them to fly for free.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, while the three sex workers operate out of New York, they said they fly to major metropolitan areas for free \u201con the federal government where they set up their appointments for sex all around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheriff Judd said all 21 of the illegal immigrants told a \u201csimilar story\u201d regarding their involvement in the sex trafficking scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t work legally,<\/strong>\u201d he recalled them saying. \u201cWe\u2019re addicted to this cash. It\u2019s a lot of cash and it\u2019s quick so we have to give $3,000 a week. We get to keep everything above that.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a crisis at the border,\u201d Sheriff Judd asserted, \u201cand because of the crisis at the border we have people that are victimizing illegal folks, forcing them into the sex trade because we allow these criminals in the country illegally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheriff Judd also addressed headlines claiming that illegal immigrants \u201caren\u2019t committing crime at any greater percentage than the people who are here legally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they didn\u2019t tell you if they weren\u2019t here illegally at all the crime they would commit here would be zero,\u201d he noted. \u201cSo, we\u2019re being victimized.\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 3, 2022, the Florida Legislature passed House Bill 615<\/a>, creating a new duty for the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking (SCHT), which is to determine how many times social media platforms are used to assist, facilitate, or support human trafficking within the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

To fulfill this requirement, the SCHT conducted a statewide survey of Florida\u2019s 80 law enforcement agencies to record the number of times social media platforms were used to \u201cfacilitate human trafficking, trafficking operations, or control victims\u201d since 2019.<\/p>\n

According to the 2023 Annual Report<\/a>, they discovered that 72 human trafficking instances were recorded using Facebook, 65 through Instagram, five through WhatsApp, and four by using Facebook Messenger.<\/p>\n

The Epoch Times reached out to the PCSD to find out if \u201cOperation March Sadness 2024\u201d had been conducted through online social media platforms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While PCSD confirmed that the sting operation was conducted online, PCSD spokesperson Carrie Horstman said, \u201cWe don\u2019t typically release information about which specific sites are used during our undercover investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur message is for parents to monitor their children\u2019s activities online\u2014have all of their logins and passwords and check their accounts regularly,\u201d she added, providing a link<\/a> to resources parents can use to protect their children from online predators. \u201cDon\u2019t allow them to be friends online with people who are strangers, and don\u2019t allow just anyone to \u2018follow\u2019 them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 03\/07\/2024 – 19:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/florida-human-trafficking-sting-leads-228-arrests-13-potential-victims-rescued<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida Human-Trafficking Sting Leads To 228 Arrests, 13 Potential Victims Rescued Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Almost 230 people were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1461365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-68ap","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1461365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1461365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1461365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1461365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}