Sheriff Grady Judd says that the operation would not have been successful without the help of his community. Social workers and police worked together to rescue a teen that had been sex trafficked and made 102 arrests.

The sheriff says that as hard as he tries to identify human trafficking victims that it is sometimes difficult because they are sometimes afraid to admit that they have been trafficked. Still, he believes that he and his team were able to identify three sex trafficking victims.  

“Sex trafficking victims are initially treated with counseling rather than a crime suspect”, said Sheriff Judd. “One of the victims that was rescued is a 17-year-old Hispanic female who was trafficked from another country in 2019 by people that the Columbian mother believed to be her friends”.

“The mother entered the country via the Mexico border illegally and that’s important to understand the mom entered the country illegally and she was met in the United States by the trafficker whom she had originally met in the Dominican Republic or Guatemala”, says Sheriff Judd.

“We highly suspect that 17-year-old victims mother may also be involved or a victim of human trafficking. We know this deal was set up by her trafficker. He is not in custody. He is under investigation and I can assure you that we’re going to do our best to locate him now. She came to the undercover site to perform sex for $230 and she was only 17 years old”. The police department turned the sex trafficked victim over to their child experts.

“Well i thought he was my friend”, said the 17-year-old. “Well he was her pimp and he was trafficking her”, Said the sheriff. Then he added, “So then we found two more human trafficking victims who were only 20 years of age. One of them was from Utah the other one was from Mexico”. The young lady from Mexico is here illegally and she came here with the lady from Utah to engage in sex for $550. She was this was set up by a pimp for this deal to occur. “The young women do not have any previous criminal history. They’re young girls, but they’re being taken advantage of by these pimps and that is what is scary about this”, said the sheriff.

He suspects that many of the people arrested are actually trafficked individuals but says that they will not admit that they were trafficked. “We weren’t able to even get to the first step with them. These three we celebrate because we were able to get to the first step so if we’d only made three arrests in the entire week from all of the resources we put together we would have been celebrating today but there’s much more to look at as you know”.

“Idris Carrick, 32 years of age he’s from Bosnia is an adult protective investigator for DCF in Pinellas county.  Ooh by the way i understand he’s in the process of being terminated. Do you understand what i just said to you. He investigates adult exploitation. He investigates abuse and fraud against the elderly on the other end of the age spectrum from what he was actually doing himself. He’s a bad man. He needs to be out of the system and he needs to be in jail and that’s where he is. Now get this in order to get away from his wife he agreed to take the kids to karate and then oh by the way i’ll take him to their mother-in-law’s so he was having to work in excuses so he could get away from Pinellas County and zip over to Polk County in order to do the nasty deed for which he was arrested”, said Sheriff Judd.

“Then there’s Alicia Tucker. She’s 36, from Orlando. She was in possession of cocaine. She had an outstanding warrant for trafficking and oxycodone. She’s got a long criminal history, 52 prior criminal charges. She’s only 36 years old. She’s been arrested seven times in Orange County and in the Orlando area for prostitution. She’s a slow learner. Nothing we’ve done in the criminal justice system has stopped her criminal conduct. I suggest it’s time she go to state prison”. Said the sheriff.

“Francis Hall is a specialist you see. She’s in the kinky sex….she brings like a bag full of all kinds of things that we’re not going to talk about. We’re not going to show you, but she’s like the wild deal here. She showed up to be a dominant in a dominant submissive event. She was charging $175. Well newsflash! She got arrested. She claims her real job is data entry. We are not going to let her enter data at the jail, but her data was entered at the jail. This lady will get you in trouble fast”.

“Shelby Atkinson, he’s 49, from Hickory Street in Lakeland. He showed up on his birthday and was bragging that it’s his birthday. Well Happy Birthday Shelby! How did that work for you? We gave him a birthday gift. We gave him a nice set of handcuffs, and then we gave him a special meal at the jail, and then we gave him free room and board all for his birthday, and when our undercovers negotiated the price with him because it was his birthday we offered him a 10 discount. Now he certainly had a birthday that he’ll remember forever, but there’s more to the story. He has a long criminal history. He’s got 30 previous charges from California. Well Shelby I i suggest you pack up and go back to California. You know they’re not so tough on that stuff out there in fact i don’t think. California isn’t tough on much of anything, so go back to California. Obviously you didn’t learn out there in the criminal justice system We’re going to give you a new found lesson here in the state of Florida. He is by the way, employed as a handyman. They didn’t say what kind of handyman, but i highly suggest you don’t hire this guy”.

Carlos Linanos, 30 years old from Lakeland and works for Purina. “He decided he would have a half hour of sex for $75 and it didn’t work out that way’, says the sheriff adding “But do you know why he said he did that? Are you ready? You know you can’t make this stuff up. He’s upset with his wife, so he decided to have sex to get back at her. That’s right he’s married. He’s mad with his wife. You know I just don’t believe at a marriage counseling session that they would have suggested that to Carlos in order to make things better at home, but anyway he was arrested. Newsflash! He was arrested in 2019 in a similar operation”.

“Antonio Young,  47 years old and works for the City of Lake Wales as a groundskeeper. He came to the undercover site in Lakeland and was carrying a firearm, but has a concealed weapons permit. He’s been arrested on a misdemeanor.

Eric Hawkins, 43 of Marion County is a senior director of transportation. He was immediately terminated.

Sheriff Judd says that child predators are his number 1 focus and that while his team was surfing the internet they found;

Donald Spencer, 64 years old, and “he’s been down here about one year from Pennsylvania, and he’s already in trouble here for very nasty things”, said the sheriff. He lives in Mulberry. He traveled to the location thinking that he was going to have sex with a 14-year-old child, a little girl. “He told her online that he was going to teach her and monitor her and help her grow into this world of sex”, said Sheriff Judd. He is charged with traveling and attempted lewd battery. “We’re never at a loss for quotes as long as we do these operations here’s what he told the detectives; I knew it was probably a sting, but i had to sacrifice myself in case it wasn’t. He was prowling children’s social media sites looking for a child to attack!”.

Theodore E. Jones, 27, from Kissimmee or Satellite, brought Pikachu with him to cuddle and snuggle. He is considered a “groomer”. He made the statement “We want to cuddle with Pikachu and have sex in the back of the car”. He is a chef at the Hanger in Disney Springs. He wanted to have sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Some interesting notes from the operation include:

• 11 of those arrested told detectives that they are married.

• Detectives charged those arrested with a total of 29 felonies and 143 misdemeanors.

• Criminal histories of everyone arrested included 275 previous felonies and 429 previous misdemeanors. Some of the prior histories include charges for kidnapping, robbery, aggravated battery, and sex offenses.

• 4 of the arrested were from other states (Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas).

• 55 suspects live in Polk County.

• 14 suspects told detectives they receive government assistance.

• Detectives seized cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA (Ecstasy), and marijuana, from those arrested during the operation.

• One of the suspects is in the country illegally, and two of the possible trafficking victims are here illegally.

• The oldest person arrested is 78 years old, while the youngest is 19 years old.

The two child predators are:

Donald Spencer, 64, of Mulberry – Spencer posted an ad online that stated in part “I want someone I can make love with, not to. Sure, we may hit some roadblocks in our journey but if we respect and truly care for each other then we can overcome any and all obstacles.” He thought he was chatting online with a 14-year-old girl and after repeatedly asking her what she wanted to do with him, said, “That’s why I’m a little weird right now I figured if you brought up the sex then it wouldn’t be a set up. You know like I’m talking of police sting operation. I would never hurt you or do anything you didn’t want to do. But I truly would like to have the chance to love you oh, to be with you and show you how much I really do care and yes I would love to make love to you.” And: “So you’re telling me that you are real that you want to be in a relationship with me and that this is in no part a police sting. I certainly don’t want to be arrested for falling in love with someone.” Upon his arrest, he told detectives that he had made a “bad decision.” He was charged with Traveling to meet a minor after use of a computer to seduce a child (F2), and Attempted lewd battery (F3).

Theodore Ryan Jones, 27, of Satellite Beach – Jones believed he was communicating online with a 13-year-old girl. He was sending her messages, including explicit nude photos of himself. He discussed in great detail what he would like to do to the girl, including taking her virginity. Jones works as a cook in Disney Springs, and was taken into custody there on the Polk County warrant. He was charged with Use of a computer to seduce a child (F3), 2 counts Transmission of material harmful to a minor (F3), and Use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony (F3).

More information about Operation Trick or Treat can be found on the Sheriff’s news release by clicking here.

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