POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A five-day investigation in Polk County yielded 157 arrests as part of a human trafficking operation, according to the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff Grady Judd on Thursday discussed the investigation, dubbed “Operation Autumn Sweep,” where 157 suspects were ”involved in illegal acts related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, or aiding and abetting prostitutes.” The youngest of the arrestees was 15 years old, according to Judd.
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Sheriff’s officials said four possible human trafficking victims were identified during the operation.
In addition to the 157 arrested, three other people were arrested for soliciting “who they thought were children online, and charged with traveling to meet a minor, attempted lewd and lascivious battery on a minor, and use of a computer to seduce a child,” a release said.
One of these suspects, 28-year-old Branden Orr, told a detective who was posing as a girl that he could go to their house and that he wanted to take her to Disney, Judd said. The sheriff’s office said Orr told detectives he is a lifeguard at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Auburndale Police, Clermont Police, Davenport Police, Haines City Police, Lakeland Police, Lake Wales Police, St. Cloud Police, Tampa Police, Winter Haven Police and Winter Haven Fire departments assisted in the investigation.
Watch the news conference below.
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