A week-long undercover effort in Polk County, Florida, concluded with the arrest of 281 individuals facing a total of 488 criminal charges. The operation, тιтled “Polk Around & Find Out II,” was led by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and involved coordination with numerous local, state, and federal agencies. It focused on two simultaneous investigations: one aimed at adults seeking to meet minors for illegal purposes, and another targeting human trafficking and related commercial Sєx activity.

According to authorities, the first part of the operation resulted in 32 arrests of people who traveled with the intent of meeting someone they believed to be a minor. The second part produced 249 additional arrests. Of those, 117 people were accused of attempting to purchase Sєx, while 122 were accused of offering it. Overall, the suspects face 198 felony charges and 290 misdemeanor charges.

Among those taken into custody were 17 employees of major Central Florida theme parks. Thirteen worked at Walt Disney World and four at Universal Studios. Seven of the theme park workers were among those charged in connection with alleged attempts to meet children. Both Disney and Universal confirmed they had terminated the employment of the individuals involved. Other notable arrests included an Orange County deputy who served as a school resource officer, a local youth football and cheerleading coach, and an active-duty U.S. Navy sailor.

Investigators reported that only about 40 of the 281 people arrested lived in Polk County. The majority traveled from other areas of Florida, 20 additional U.S. states, and 18 foreign countries. Authorities seized 24 firearms during the operation and filed drug possession charges against 32 suspects involving substances that included methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl. The group of arrestees collectively carried a substantial prior criminal record, including hundreds of earlier felony charges. Nine individuals were already serving probation at the time of their arrest for previous offenses.

Detectives worked with specialists from One More Child and the Florida Department of Children and Families to screen those involved in the prosтιтution-related arrests. Eleven people were identified as victims of human trafficking and were offered immediate crisis support and community resources.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier stressed that the operation was designed to intercept individuals actively seeking to exploit others. They stated that prosecutors will pursue the maximum penalties available under Florida law. Traveling to meet a minor for unlawful Sєxual activity is classified as a second-degree felony that can carry a prison sentence of up to 15 years. Officials also noted that more than 2,300 people have been arrested statewide in similar operations targeting child predators since February 2025.

The multi-agency effort included police departments from several cities, neighboring sheriff’s offices, the Florida Department of Financial Services, the Office of Statewide Prosecution, the 10th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration authorities took custody of a number of the individuals who were in the country without legal status.

Sheriff Judd emphasized the importance of parental involvement in monitoring children’s online activity and knowing the adults who interact with them. He described the messages exchanged by some of the suspects as deeply disturbing and stated that the goal of these operations is to remove dangerous individuals from contact with children before harm can occur.

All those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The operation highlights ongoing efforts by Florida law enforcement to disrupt both online predatory activity and human trafficking networks through coordinated undercover work.