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Among those arrested during the operation was former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Adarius Taylor.
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — During a nine-day undercover operation, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office apprehended over 200 individuals, one of whom was a former Bucs player, in efforts targeting human trafficking, child predators, and illegal immigration.
Named “Fool Around and Find Out,” the investigation resulted in the arrests of 244 people on charges related to prostitution, alongside 11 others facing charges of human trafficking and attempts to sexually assault children, according to two separate news releases from the sheriff’s office.
Two hundred and fifty-five people were arrested in total, and four possible human trafficking victims were identified, according to the agency.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd remarked in a release, “This marks the highest number of suspects arrested in a single undercover operation that we’ve ever conducted.”
During a press conference on Friday, Judd added that 36 of the suspects were in the U.S. illegally, coming from Venezuela, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Colombia, Guatemala and Brazil.
The youngest suspect arrested during the operation was 17, with the oldest being 70. One of the people arrested was Adarius Taylor, a former NFL linebacker who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“The dude made a lot of mistakes,” Judd said Friday. “He not only brought his six-year-old child to the operation, but he left his six-year-old child in the car when he went to do the operation.”
The sheriff added that DCF took possession of the child immediately before notifying the mother. According to jail records, Taylor has been charged with negligent child abuse and soliciting another for prostitution, lewdness or assignation.
At the end of the conference, Judd thanked the numerous agencies that helped the sheriff’s office with their investigation, including the Department of Homeland Security, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and multiple police departments in Polk County.
“A word to the wise, there’ll be another one,” Judd said. “Fool around and find out.”
The full press conference can be viewed below:
