What happened
Seventeen employees of Disney World and Universal Studios were among 281 suspects arrested in a human trafficking and child sexual predator enforcement operation in Polk County, Florida, the sheriff's office said Friday, according to CBS News.
Sheriff Grady Judd described the effort at a press conference as a joint operation that ran for seven days. He said it targeted people who prey on children and who travel to meet them for unlawful sexual activity, as well as those involved in human trafficking. Of the suspects, 31 traveled to the county to try to have sex with a child, Judd said.
Thirteen of those arrested were Disney employees and four worked for Universal Studios, the sheriff said.
Other details from the arrests
Judd said 32 of the suspects were undocumented immigrants, and 16 of them have so far been transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also said 24 suspects brought firearms to the meetings and nine were on probation.
The sheriff highlighted several individual cases. One suspect is the head coach of a Florida team, the Davenport Titans, which he said includes children ages 11 to 14. According to Judd, the man believed he was traveling to meet a 14-year-old girl. Another suspect was on active Navy duty.
Judd also described a former Disney employee who worked as a Mickey Mouse character and was caught with two backpacks full of diapers, which the sheriff tied to a fetish. A separate Disney employee, the sheriff said, arrived with his uniform in the car to meet an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old boy.
What officials and companies are saying
In a statement, Judd said it is "extremely disturbing when we encounter nasty child predators like these who are very eager to have sex with children." He added, "This is why we conduct these types of undercover operations."
The sheriff said Disney cooperated with law enforcement and told him it has since fired all of the employees involved. CBS News said it had reached out to Disney and Universal Studios for further comment. The source material did not include a response from either company or say what actions Universal has taken regarding its four employees.
What remains unclear
The source material does not detail the specific charges each suspect faces, nor does it describe how the cases will proceed in court. It also does not say which agencies took part in the joint operation beyond the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Those arrested are suspects, and the accounts of individual cases come from the sheriff's description at the press conference.
