POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Seventeen people, most from across central Florida, have been charged in a six-day undercover investigation into child predators.
The arrests were part of “Operation Child Protector,” conducted by multiple agencies.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 16 suspects are from around Clewiston, Davenport,
Kissimmee, Orlando, Polk City and Zephyrhills, all in Florida. One was a visitor to the area from Los Angeles.
Sheriff Grady Judd said all of them intended to engage in sexual activity with who they believed were children, but instead, they encountered undercover officers who were posing as children online.
“These are nasty, nasty, nasty people, and when we go through this, understand that obviously, we can’t even use the words they used,” Judd said. “We obviously can’t show you the pictures and the video clips that they sent to what they thought were 13-year-old little girls and little boys.
Among the suspects were Disney World employees.
One couple, Savannah and Jonathan McGrew, wanted to engage in a threesome with a 13-year-old girl and roleplay as stepparents and stepdaughter or in a shoplifting situation, Judd said. Both suspects worked as custodians at Walt Disney Hollywood Studios.
“Are you kidding me? That’s how you’re talking to 13-year-old children,” Judd said.
Another suspect, Kenneth Javier Aquino, was a lifeguard at Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge who, Judd said, left his pregnant girlfriend to have sex with someone he thought was a child. Judd said he was dressed in his work clothes when he came to the undercover location.
“He’s a Navy veteran,” the sheriff said. “That’s right. He was working toward a dive team or a SEAL team or some kind of special ops job. They did a background check on him and found he had friends or affiliates that were gang members, and they tossed him.”
Judd said one suspect was HIV-positive and intended to have unprotected sex with a girl, although he didn’t identify which one.
“Fortunately, our detectives were there instead of the 13-year-old child. But guess what? Had it been a curious little girl as opposed to our very experienced detectives, she would have been directly exposed to HIV,” he said.
In total, the suspects face 48 felony charges and two misdemeanors. The suspects, nine of whom have criminal histories, are identified as follows:
- Kenneth Javier Aquino, 26, of Orlando — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, one count transmission of material harmful to minor
- Irving Oliver of Lakeland, 41, of Lakeland — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
- Jarrod Justice, 33, of Los Angeles, California — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
- Lior Enbar, 31, of Orlando — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, giving false info to LEO
- Joshua Ortega, 30, of Davenport — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, one count introduction of contraband into a detention facility, one count possession of PCP, one count possession of paraphernalia
- Julio Enrique Cedeno, Jr., 45, of Zephyrhills — Two counts transmission of material harmful to minor, one count unlawful use of two-way communication device
- Juan Guadalupe-Arroyo of Davenport — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count misrepresenting age online/use of computer to seduce a child, one count attempted lewd battery
- Carlos Flores, 36, of Orlando — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count misrepresenting age online/use of computer to seduce a child, one count attempted lewd battery
- Enrique Medina, 47, of Orlando — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
- Adam Smith, 30, of Kissimmee — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
- Jeremiah Davis, 27, of Clewiston — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
- Thomas Snyder, 44, of Lakeland — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, one count transmission of material harmful to minor
- David Ring, 34, of Lakeland — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, four counts transmission of material harmful to minor
- Philip Nelson, 27, of Polk City — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
- Jonathan McGrew, 34, of Kissimmee — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, two counts transmission of material harmful to minor, one count attempted lewd battery
- Savannah Lawrenc, 29, of Kissimmee — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
- Edward McGaffigan, 37, of Orlando — One count unlawful use of a two-way communication device, three counts transmission of material harmful to minor