An undercover law enforcement operation in Florida targeting sexual predators netted 17 arrests, including three Walt Disney World employees, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Department.
Utilizing dating apps and social media, undercover officers involved in “Operation: Child Protector” pretended to be 13- and 14-year-olds and made contact with the suspects, who were then invited to a location where they thought they would meet up with their prospective underage dates.
Instead, they found police waiting to apprehend them.
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Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd held a press conference to detail the arrests, which included 49 felony charges in all.
“What you see on this board … are deviants. Incredible deviants,” Judd said as he gestured towards the photos of the 17 individuals placed in custody. “They travel from as far away as Clewiston, Florida. One even came from Los Angeles.”
“Much to their chagrin, instead of meeting with young children, they were met by law enforcement officers who were online undercover posing as children.”
One of the men arrested, Kenneth Javier Aquino, 26, worked as a lifeguard at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom lodge. Aquino was still dressed in his official Disney polo shirt and swimsuit when he arrived for the meet-up and was apprehended, according to a release by the PCSD.
Aquino allegedly told detectives that he is a Navy veteran with a pregnant girlfriend.
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Jonathan McGrew, 34, and Savannah Lawrence, 29, were custodians at the Hollywood Studios area of Walt Disney World. McGrew sent lewd videos of himself and Lawrence, who are a couple, performing sex acts on each other to undercover detectives thinking they were communicating with underage girls.
They were arrested when they arrived in an Uber together to the location where police were waiting.
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