WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is set to hold a news conference on Friday morning to discuss the arrests of 225 individuals as part of an undercover operation called “Fool Around and Find Out.”
The event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
The nine-day operation, conducted by multiple agencies, targeted human trafficking, child predators, and illegal immigration, according to the sheriff’s office’s news release.
Polk detectives teamed up with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security, in addition to collaborating with investigators from various sheriff’s offices and police departments, as stated in the release.
Of the 225 people arrested, 36 of them were in the country illegally, the sheriff’s office said.
According to the release, 141 face charges of soliciting prostitution and 93 face charges of offering to commit prostitution, four of whom were identified as victims of human trafficking and were reportedly offered services by partnering agencies One More Child and Heartland for Children. Ten other people face charges related to prostitution and eleven suspects are accused of traveling to meet a minor or of other child-sex-related crimes, the release states.
No other information was shared ahead of time.
News 6 will stream the news conference live at the top of this story.
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