Three employees of Walt Disney World in Orlando were among 17 suspects arrested in a massive child sex sting in Florida . The Polk Cou...
Three employees of Walt Disney World in Orlando were among 17 suspects arrested in a massive child sex sting in Florida.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests stemming from 'Operation Child Protector' at a news conference on Tuesday.
Collectively, the group was charged with 49 felonies and two misdemeanors, including: traveling to meet a minor for sex, attempted lewd battery, use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of material harmful to a child.
Officials said the majority of the suspects had communicated with undercover agents who were posing as 13- and 14-year-old children and then traveled to a location with the intention of meeting and sexually battering the victims.
Six of the suspects brought condoms to the meet-ups. Two of the suspects did not actually go to meet-ups but sent sexually explicit messages, photos and videos to underage targets online.
Three of the suspects - Kenneth Javier Aquino, Jonathan McGrew and Sarah Lawrence - stood out among the group because they are each employed by Disney.
Aquino, a 26-year-old Animal Kingdom Lodge lifeguard, was wearing his Disney polo shirt, swim trunks and crocs when he was arrested by undercover detectives on July 27, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference.
Jonathan McGrew, 34, (left) and his girlfriend Sarah Lawrence, 29, (right) - who are both custodians at Disney's Hollywood studios - allegedly tried to arrange a threesome with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl on August 1
Aquino drove to meet with the girl straight from work after starting a conversation with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl that day after asking for nude photos and sending lewd videos of his own, Judd said.
'He bragged about his prowess and how wonderful he was,' said Judd of Aquino, who was the first arrested in the week-long sting. 'He left his girlfriend who was seven months pregnant with his child in order to have sex with a child.'
McGrew, 34, and girlfriend Lawrence, 29, both of Kissimmee and both custodians at Disney's Hollywood studios, allegedly tried to arrange a threesome with an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old girl on August 1.
Police said McGrew contacted two undercover detectives posing as underage girls within the same timeframe, inviting one to his apartment and sending videos of him and Lawrence performing sex acts.
'Our fantasy is to play step-dad/step-daughter/step-mom, teacher/student maybe even shoplifter where we do a strip search,' McGrew wrote in one message.
Lawrence told police she was 'just a follower', Judd said. The two took an Uber to the detective's location, attempting to meet a minor for sex, and were arrested at the scene without incident.
'Our detectives that work this operation are simply the very best,' said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd (pictured) at a press conference. 'They’re skilled at talking as though they’re 13- and 14-year-old children and they worked around the clock for a week in order to arrest 17 people.'
‘We want to enjoy this opportunity, we don’t want to rush,' McGrew allegedly wrote to the detective. 'Maybe at the conclusion we’ll cuddle a little bit.’
At least 35 Disney employees were arrested for charges related to pedophilia between 2006 and 2014, according to PIX.
A chef and food runner at Disney facilities were nabbed in a child sex ring in 2018, according to Newsweek, and Metro reported that two more Disney employees were pegged for involvement in a 2019 child porn sting, Metro reported.
Walt Disney World has not responded to DailyMail.com's requests for comment.
Judd told reporters that one of those arrested, who couldn't be singled out due to HIPAA laws, admitted to officers after his arrest that he was HIV-positive. He was not one of those arrested with condoms on their person.
Dominos pizza driver Lior Enbar of Orlando, 31, vacationing and married LA-resident Jarrod Justice, 33, and Irving Oliver of Lakeland, 41, were all charged within the same day on July 27 for the felonies of traveling to meet a minor for sex and attempted lewd battery.
Justice allegedly brought condoms and Sour Patch Kids to the scene. Enbar allegedly dialed *67 to call the 14-year-old 'girl' he was corresponding with, asking for photos and videos and detailing what he wanted to do sexually.
Previously, Oliver had been arrested for battery domestic violence, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and for violating a restraining order.
Detectives said they found PCP in the wallet of 30-year-old Joshua Ortega of Davenport when he was jailed, adding two additional felonies to his charges of traveling to meet a minor for sex and attempted lewd battery.
He was released from state prison in June of last year after he was jailed for cocaine possession, marijuana-related charges, burglary, grand theft and violation of probation.
Ortega told detectives that he was unemployed, lived with his mother, and that he walked to the location to have sex with the assumed-14-year-old because he 'hadn't had sex in awhile.'
Registered nurse Juan Guadalupe-Arroyo of Davenport, 47, was arrested after arriving at the detective's location to meet with what he thought was a 14-year-old boy for sex on July 30, police said.
He detailed what he wanted to do sexually in conversations with detectives and brought condoms to the scene. In addition to charges relating to the sex attempt, Guadalupe-Arroyo was also charged with the felony of misrepresenting his age online - he told the boy he was only 40 years of age.
Carlos Flores of Orlando, 36, was also charged for lying about his age on July 30 when he told a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl that he was 17.
'He did not want to come inside the building, he wanted the girl to meet him in his car—that was his fantasy, to have sex in a car,' said Judd.
That day, Enrique Medina of Orlando, 47, and Adam Smith of Kissimmee, 30, were also charged with felonies for traveling to meet a minor and attempted lewd battery.
Custodian Thomas Snyder of Lakeland, 44, was at work while he corresponded with detectives posing as a 13-year-old boy on July 31, sending an explicit photo of himself from his job site, Judd said.
'He said "I like smelly feet" - he wanted to smell the little boy’s feet, and then he wanted to play with his toes,' Judd said. 'He talked really, really nasty during the undercover conversations.'
Garbage truck driver Jeremiah Davis of Clewiston, 27, David Ring of Lakeland, 34, and Philip Nelson of Polk City, 27, were all charged with felonies that day on July 31 for communicating with and traveling to what they thought were 14-year-old girls.
Julio Enrique Cedeno Jr. of Zephyrhills, 45, and self-identified professional poker player Edward McGaffigan of Orlando, 37, were both charged with transmission of material harmful to a minor and unlawful use of a two-way communication device for sending lewd photos of themselves to 13- and 14-year-old 'girls' and requesting the same in return.
'He sent harmful material, he thought it was a 14 year old girl. When we went to pick him up, we actually showed him the chats. You know what he said? "well, this is real bad." No kidding,' said Judd of McGaffigan. 'He couldn’t travel- somebody stole his car, so he just talked nasty and sent harmful material.'
The Polk County Sheriff's Office was assisted by the Auburndale Police Department, the Orlando Police Department, the Winter Haven Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff's Office in the undercover sting.
'Our detectives that work this operation are simply the very best,' said Judd at the press conference. 'They’re skilled at talking as though they’re 13- and 14-year-old children and they worked around the clock for a week in order to arrest 17 peopl
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