Nationwide human trafficking busts captured
cops and high-level military, and more than 80 children were rescued,
one of whom was only 3-months old.
“That’s the most we have ever arrested in the history of the sheriff’s office,” Sheriff Grady Judd said of his undercover operation in Polk County, Florida.
The sheriff is referring to the 277 people rounded up in “Operation No Tricks, No Treats” which started last Tuesday and ran through Monday.
According to the sheriff’s office, as reported by WFLA, 51 of the arrests were related to those who advertise as prostitutes online and 209 of the arrests were those who solicited undercover detectives posing as prostitutes. Seventeen arrests were made for other offenses.
The sheriff noted that the arrests included lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, former and current police officers, multiple men looking to have sex with children, and convicted sex offenders.
During the bust, the sheriff even nabbed a cop in his own department. Since his arrest, Sergeant Luis Diaz has resigned from the force after 17 years.
In another, far more horrifying bust, conducted by the FBI, eighty-four children were saved and 120 human traffickers were arrested.
FBI agents and task force officers staged operations in hotels, casinos, and truck stops, as well as on street corners and Internet websites, according to the release, as reported by Myrtle Beach Online. The youngest victim recovered during this year’s operation was 3 months old, and the average age of victims recovered during the operation was 15 years old, the release stated.
