A seven-day undercover operation across Polk County, Florida, has ended with 281 people arrested, 11 human trafficking victims identified, and a suspect list that reaches into the region's biggest employers — including 17 theme-park workers, a sheriff's deputy assigned to an elementary school, and a youth football coach — the Polk County Sheriff's Office announced on Friday, October 30.

Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Oct. 30, 2026

Sheriff Grady Judd unveiled the results at a news conference at 9:30 a.m. on October 30 at the Sheriff's Operations Center, 1891 Jim Keene Boulevard in Winter Haven. Standing with him were Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, Chris Nelson, executive director for State Attorney Brian Haas of the 10th Judicial Circuit, and David Gritte, acting deputy field office director for ICE and Homeland Security in the region, along with the heads of other partner agencies, according to the Lakeland Ledger's reporting of the announcement.

Source: Lakeland Ledger / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect, Oct. 30, 2026

Two investigations running side by side

The operation, named “Polk Around & Find Out II,” actually ran two undercover investigations at once. The larger one targeted commercial sex: 239 of the arrests were related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, and aiding, abetting or transporting prostitutes. Within that total, 117 suspects were arrested for allegedly soliciting a prostitute and travelling to an undercover location to negotiate sex for money, the sheriff's office said.

Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Oct. 30, 2026

The second investigation targeted people who, according to detectives, believed they were arranging to sexually abuse children. In that strand, 31 suspects allegedly communicated online with undercover detectives posing as children or as guardians of children, and then travelled to an undercover location, where they were arrested. No real child was involved in those chats — the “children” and “guardians” were detectives, the sheriff's office said. Eleven further arrests were made on other charges during the week.

Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Oct. 30, 2026

Detectives also screened the 122 suspects who had travelled to commit prostitution, working with the social-service organisation One More Child and the Florida Department of Children and Families, to determine whether any of them were themselves being trafficked or exploited. All were offered services, and during the investigation 11 human trafficking victims were identified, the sheriff's office said.

Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Oct. 30, 2026

Theme-park workers, a school deputy and a youth coach among the arrested

Seventeen of the suspects told detectives they work at local theme parks or resorts, including Disney World and Universal Studios — 13 from Disney and four from Universal, according to the sheriff's office summary reported by the Ledger — and seven of the 17 were arrested in the child-predator strand. Sheriff Judd said Disney told investigators it had fired the employees connected to the arrests; he said he had not received an update from Universal about its workers, according to WWSB's reporting of the news conference.

Source: Lakeland Ledger / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect, Oct. 30, 2026

Among those highlighted by the sheriff's office was Eric Raymond, 40, of Winter Garden, an Orange County deputy sheriff for six years who is currently assigned as a school resource deputy at Independence Elementary School. Detectives allege Raymond answered an online ad placed by an undercover detective and agreed to pay $110; he was charged with one count of solicitation of a prostitute, a first-degree misdemeanour, the sheriff's office said. In the predator strand, the Ledger reported that Rashion Crayton, 31, of Bartow, a coach with the Davenport Titans youth football team in the Mid-Florida Youth Conference football and cheer programme, is accused of sending sexual messages to an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old and travelling to the undercover location. Both men are suspects facing charges — an arrest is an allegation, not a conviction, and both are entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Oct. 30, 2026

What officials said

“It is extremely disturbing when we encounter nasty child predators like these who are very eager to have sex with children. This is why we conduct these types of undercover operations,” Sheriff Judd said in the sheriff's office statement, urging parents to monitor not only their children's online activities but also “who the adults are in your children's lives.” Attorney General Uthmeier, quoted by WWSB, said: “Those who came to Polk County expecting to sexually abuse a child, found cuffs instead.” Chief Financial Officer Ingoglia said his investigators “will continue to assist our local law enforcement partners to protect our communities from human trafficking and child sex predators.”

Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Oct. 30, 2026

The sheriff's office said 32 of those arrested were in the United States illegally, from nine different countries; the Floridian Press reported Attorney General Uthmeier as saying 16 of them had already been turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and that those arrested came from countries including Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico and Haiti. The sheriff's office also said 22 suspects were collecting public assistance worth $8,373 a month collectively — $100,476 a year.

Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Oct. 30, 2026

Background: a repeat operation, and a long partner list

The “II” in the operation's name marks this as a repeat of an earlier Polk County sting run on the same model: undercover detectives place online ads, suspects make contact and travel to a set location, and waiting teams make the arrest. The sheriff's office said this week's 281 suspects carried, between them, 798 previous criminal charges — 358 felonies and 440 misdemeanours — before this operation added 488 new charges.

Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Oct. 30, 2026

Polk County detectives were joined by investigators from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Florida Department of Financial Services, the State Attorney for the 10th Judicial Circuit, the Auburndale, Bartow, Davenport, Lakeland, Lake City and Lake Wales police departments, the Columbia, Hardee, Hillsborough, Marion and Osceola county sheriff's offices, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division and the U.S. Secret Service, the sheriff's office said.

Source: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Oct. 30, 2026

What happens next

All 281 cases now move into the Polk County court system, where prosecutors with the 10th Judicial Circuit must decide on formal charges case by case and judges will set bonds and hearing dates. The sheriff's office says the wider investigation is ongoing: WWSB reported that investigators are also reviewing whether additional children may have been victimised in connection with one of the people arrested, the youth football coach — an inquiry that, if it produces evidence, could bring further charges. For the 11 identified trafficking victims, the screening process run with One More Child and the Department of Children and Families is the route into housing, counselling and other support, whether or not they cooperate with prosecutions.

Source: Lakeland Ledger / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect, Oct. 30, 2026

For families across Central Florida — including the Punjabi and wider South Asian families who live and work around Orlando, Lakeland and the I-4 corridor — the detail parents are most likely to act on is the sheriff's own: seven of the arrested predator suspects worked at the theme parks where local children go on school trips and family outings, and one coached children's football and cheer. Judd's advice was direct: know the adults in your children's lives, and watch their online contacts — because in this investigation, that is exactly where detectives say the approaches began.