Sheriff Grady Judd will brief the media at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, Friday, May 1, 2026, at the PCSO Sheriff’s Operations Center, 1891 Jim Keene Blvd in Winter Haven, about a multi-day joint-agency undercover investigation, “Polk Around and Find Out” that focused on human trafficking, child predators, and illegal immigration.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office made 266 total arrests – 247 arrests were related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, aiding/abetting or transporting prostitutes, and other charges; and 19 arrests were related to child sexual predators, which we highlighted yesterday.
Sheriff Judd will be joined by other agency heads, Sheriffs, and Police Chiefs.
The 127 suspects who travelled to commit prostitution were screened by detectives and the social services organizations to determine if they were being trafficked or exploited by others, and were offered services by the social services organizations at the operation.
During this investigation, seven possible human trafficking victims were identified.
There were 108 suspects arrested for soliciting a prostitute and traveling to the undercover location to negotiate having sex in exchange for money. Two of those suspects brought children to the undercover location and were appropriately charged with child neglect. Twelve (12) other suspects were arrested for aiding/abetting, transporting, or deriving proceeds from prostitutes.
Of the 247 human-trafficking arrests, 34 are in the country illegally, and 22 are collecting public assistance – $15,188 per month collectively.
