3 Disney Employees Among 17 Suspects In Child Sex Sting: Deputies

POLK COUNTY, FL —Seventeen suspects that include several Disney workers, a Lakeland nursing home employee, a Starbucks' employee and a man from Los Angeles face traveling to meet a minor for sex charges in a child sex sting operation conducted by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Orlando Police Department and other nearby agencies, according to a news release.

Undercover detectives posed as teenagers on social media platforms in "Operation Child Protector" from July 27 to August 1. The suspects communicated with children who they thought were between the ages of 13 and 14, and are accused of making arrangements to have sex with them, investigators said. During the six-day operation, suspects would show up at different times to an undisclosed location in Polk County expecting to meet the child they spoke via social media messaging. Some of the suspects are accused of transmitting pornographic images while grooming and soliciting children online, officers said.

"These are nasty, nasty, nasty people," Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference Tuesday. "And when we go through this, understand obviously we can't even use the words that they used," as he referred to what the 17 suspects said online to the detectives. "We obviously can't show you the pictures and the video clips to what they thought were 13-year-old little girls and little boys."

One of the suspects knowingly has HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), and showed up to have sex with a 13-year-old girl without a condom, Judd told reporters. The suspect can't be named because of the federal HIPPA (Health Information Privacy) law.

"Did you hear what I'm telling' ya," Judd said. "He's HIV positive, and he showed up to have unprotected sex to what he thought was a child. Now if that's not the worst of the worst, I can't imagine how it gets any worse."

In all, the suspects face a total of 49 felony charges and two misdemeanor charges, which include: traveling to meet a minor for sex, attempted lewd battery, use of a computer to seduce a child, unlawful use of a two-way communication device, and transmission of material harmful to a child; six suspects brought condoms, and nine suspects have criminal histories (with 27 total previous felonies, and 22 total previous misdemeanors). The youngest suspect arrested is 26 years old, and the two oldest suspects are 47 years old. They were all from the central Florida area, except one suspect who was visiting from California.

For full information on the charges and accusations, visit Polk County Sheriff's Office website.