Polk County prostitution sting nets 228 arrests, 13 possible human trafficking victims

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office Vice Unit arrested 228 suspects ranging in age from 16 to 73 from across Florida and 11 other states in a recent prostitution operation.

“This is a new record number of arrests during an investigation of this kind,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. “More importantly, we identified 13 human trafficking victims; during two previous similar operations in February and October 2023, we identified 24 and 21 victims, respectively. That’s 58 victims we were able to identify in one year.”

The vast majority, 150 people, were arrested for soliciting a prostitute and traveling to an undercover location to negotiate having sex for money. An additional 12 individuals were arrested, eight of which were for deriving proceeds for prostitution or transporting prostitutes to an undercover location.

Judd said there were 66 prostitutes arrested, of which 13 were screened and may be possible human-trafficking victims.

Other crimes included 44 suspects who brought illegal drugs to the undercover sting and 15 brought firearms resulting in 17 guns being seized.

Obey

Article URL : https://www.theledger.com/story/news/crime/2024/03/05/polk-county-sheriff-arrests-228-in-prostitution-sting-42-live-in-polk/72849898007/