Light Bar on Police Car – stock photoRandy Faris / Getty Images Florida police announced on Friday they arrested 160 people in a week-long human trafficking investigation. Among those arrested were a deputy police chief, two teachers, and a Disney employee. According to the police, 26 of those arrested are married, and 15 suspects were out of state.
A former Georgia deputy chief, Disney employee, two teachers, and a state correction officer were arrested in a seven-day human trafficking investigation, authorities in Florida said Friday. The Polk County Sheriffs office announced in a statement that authorities arrested 160 people in “Operation Fall Haul 2. ” In a press release, the Polk County Sheriff’s office cited that 26 of those arrested are married, and 15 suspects were out of state.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters at the press conference that one of those arrested outside Florida was Jason DiPrima, a deputy police chief from Georgia. Judd said DiPrima tried to hire an undercover detective posing as a prostitute with $180 and a pack of White Claw. The sheriff said that DiPrima has resigned from his position at the Cartersville Police Department.
“If all else fails, he can write a book: how to lose your career in three easy steps,” Judd told reporters. According to a press release, Keith Nieves, 24, a corrections officer at Lake Correctional Institution, was also arrested after authorities said he attempted to have sex with another undercover detective posing as a prostitute. “He’s in the jail as a jail bird like the jail birds he watches,” Judd said, per The Hill.
According to a press release by the Polk county sheriff’s office, three Florida school employees were also arrested in the operation. Judd added that Cameron Burke, 43, a computer technician at Oak Ridge High School in Orange County, who was on bond after accusations of having sex with a 15-year-old student from the school in 2020, was also arrested in operation, according to the statement. Judd told reporters that Carlos Gonzalez, 34, a math teacher, told police after he was arrested that he was just going to give the two prostitutes money and leave without having sex, according to the statement.
According to the statement, the other teacher arrested was John Layton, 26, who taught physical education at West Orange High School in Orange County and was caught by authorities trying to pay an undercover detective $40 for a sexual act. “No, the students have track practice in the morning; you have jail practice in the morning,” the sheriff told reporters, according to The Hill. The statement also cited 2 Disney employees who were arrested.
Guillermo Perez, 57, a bellhop working at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, was arrested after he responded to an online escort ad and agreed to pay an undercover detected $80 for sex, according to the statement. According to the release, Samy Claude, 26, a self-employed photographer who was often contracted by Disney, was also arrested for responding to an online escort ad. “The online prostitution industry enables traffickers and allows for the continued victimization of those trafficked.
Our goal is to identify victims, offer them help, and arrest those who are fueling the exploitation of human beings (Johns) and those profiting from the exploitation of human beings. Prostitution is not a victimless crime – it results in exploitation, disease, dysfunction, drug and alcohol addiction, violence, and broken families. ” Judd said in the statement.
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URL: https://www.insider.com/florida-sheriff-arrested160-people-in-human-trafficking-investigation-2022-9