Throughout the course of a weeklong undercover investigation in Polk County, Florida, 219 suspects were arrested for involvement in human trafficking. Three of which were Disney employees, one high school teacher, one athletic director, and several illegal immigrants. The investigation reaped a total of 242 misdemeanors and 44 felony charges among all of the suspects. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said, “Not only did we arrest more suspects during this single operation than we have ever arrested before, we identified 21 human trafficking victims; during a similar operation in February, we identified 24 victims. That’s 45 victims we were able to identify this year. The valuable relationships that we have with the social services organizations who join us in these operations make it possible for these women to get help and be emancipated from this way of life.”
