According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 12 people were detained in an undercover investigation targeting pedophiles in Polk County, Florida.
Operation Child Protector II was conducted in collaboration with the Auburndale and Winter Haven police depts.
According to deputies, 4 of the suspects went to a place to have sex with girls they believed were 13 or 15 years old. Instead, they were warmly welcomed by undercover cops.
The remaining 8 suspects were arrested and accused of grooming girls by sending them pornographic material.
Zachary Hudson, a Walt Disney World bus driver, was identified as one of the accused persons. Sheriff Grady Judd claimed Hudson had sexually charged conversations while working at Disney World.
“So if your bus was running late at Disney, he was busy taking pictures of himself and talking trash to what he thought was a little girl,” Judd said.
According to deputies, 2 of the accused persons were not residents of Florida. According to Judd, one suspect, George Elec Matthews, 66, of Ozark, Alabama, was apprehended by military police on his way to work at Fort Rucker.
According to the sheriff, Matthews had these conversations both at work and at home.
Nine of the suspects, according to Judd, had no prior criminal record.
“Wherever you are in the world, if you’ve been talking nasty and sending nasty pictures to what you thought was a child, we’re after you,” Judd said.
