During the operation, called "March Sadness 2", undercover police officers reached out to prostitutes who posted online ads on various websites and social media. Detectives also identified adults they believed were conspicuously interacting with children, according to a statement from the police.
Police identified four Disney employees among those arrested. One of them, Xavier Jackson, 27, is accused of sending sexual photos of himself and messages to an undercover agent who posed as a 14-year-old girl.
According to Sheriff Grady Judd, Jackson worked as a lifeguard at a Polynesian resort owned by the company and “was bragging about that.” He was charged with three counts of transmitting harmful material to a minor and one count of unlawful communication.
Three suspected child predators were also among the arrested.
"We protected some little girl someplace that was groomed or potentially groomed by these evil, deviant criminals— thugs, that's all they are," Judd said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Wilkason Fidele, 24, who worked at the Cosmic Restaurant at Walt Disney World's Tomorrowland, Shubham Malave, 27, a software developer, and Ralph Leese, 45, an IT employee were all Disney employees arrested in the operation.
The police also arrested former judge Daniel Peters, 66, who had moved to Florida after his retirement. He told investigators that he had worked as a judge in the Cook County 4th Sub Circuit Court and as a special legal assistant at the Cook County Sheriff's Office in Illinois.
All of them are suspected of seeking prostitution services.
“The arrests of a human trafficker and four child predators alone makes this whole operation worthwhile. The online prostitution industry enables traffickers and victimizes those who are being trafficked. Our goal is to identify victims, offer them help, and find and arrest those who are profiting from the exploitation of human beings,” the Sheriff said.
He added that the so-called “johns,” who pay for prostitution services, “fuel the trafficking and victimization. Where there is prostitution, there is exploitation, disease, dysfunction, and broken families.”