Latest news with #AdariusTaylor
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Former Browns linebacker arrested in human prostitution sting
After their football careers are completed, most NFL players find another career, such as selling real estate, coaching, or some sort of construction job. Beginning on May 2 and lasting through the majority of the month of May, a total of 255 individuals were arrested in relation to a prostitution ring in Southern Florida using multiple agencies. It was the highest number of suspects ever arrested during a single undercover operation with Polk County, Florida. One such individual was former Cleveland Browns linebacker Adarius Taylor. The bust was part of a multi-agency crackdown dubbed 'Operation Fool Around and Find Out' with the Polk County (FL) Sheriff's Office, which is located just south of Orlando and due east of Tampa. Legoland Resort is located within its boundaries. According to the police report, 141 people were charged with soliciting prostitutes, 93 parties with offering to commit prostitution, 10 with offenses related to prostitution, such as aiding and abetting or transporting prostitutes, four people were identified as potential human trafficking victims and offered services, while 36 persons were identified as illegal aliens. In addition, 11 were charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex or other child sex crimes under the agency Operation Child Protector. Editor's note: Taylor appears at 22:27 Taylor, age 34, allegedly brought his 6-year-old daughter to the sting site and left the child in his Ford F-150 truck when he went inside. The juvenile was taken into custody by the Florida Department of Children and Families, who then contacted the child's mother. Taylor's charges include misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution and felony negligent child abuse without bodily harm. The arrest report stated that law enforcement was the ones who found his daughter, who was assessed with several medical conditions, stating Taylor did not tell anyone that the child was left alone in his vehicle. The affidavit against Taylor indicated he responded to an escort advertisement before agreeing to meet with the undercover deputy at the undisclosed location. Prior to the meeting, he had agreed to a price, the deputy reported, adding that she confirmed after his arrival that he was there for sexual purposes. A three-sport star athlete in high school, Taylor was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft and signed a three-year, $1.53 million contract with a signing bonus of $16,000. After his second training camp, the Panthers cut him on the final cutdown day and then placed him on their practice squad. He then signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2016 and was named the backup MLB. The following season, he broke his tibia and fibula in a collision during a sack. In 2018, Taylor became the starting MIKE linebacker after the starter sustained a broken ankle. Tampa Bay did not offer a new contract, and he signed with the Browns for the 2019 campaign under new head coach Freddie Kitchens. Taylor competed against Joe Schobert and became his backup, as well as working with special teams. With Cleveland, he played in 15 games with 60 defensive snaps, 312 special teams snaps, zero starts, and had nine total tackles. The Browns did not attempt to keep his services despite one year left on his contract, and he inked a deal returning to the Panthers where he started two games with the defense and played 63% of special teams snaps before landing on IR after suffering a groin injury. After being out of football for three years, Taylor signed a one-year deal with the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL, where he played in just three games before being released. More from ESPN drops some news about the Browns' quarterback situation NFL picks and predictions for Week 2 Daily Dawg Chow: Browns news (9/16/16) Browns' Color Rush uniforms unveiled, but Cleveland won't get to wear them in 2016 Film Study: Browns' only TD drive vs. Eagles Film Study: Browns' 1st three offensive series vs. Eagles - All 3-and-outs, with a botched fake Daily Dawg Chow: Browns news (9/15/16)
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICE Helps Round Up Sex Workers in Florida
A recent "human trafficking enforcement operation" in Polk County, Florida, led to 244 arrests—albeit none for human trafficking. If this sounds familiar, it's because Polk County is far from alone in rounding up sex workers and their customers under the auspices of stopping human trafficking. And as is so frequently the case, the federal government had a hand in this operation, which authorities dubbed Fool Around and Find Out. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division were involved in Operation Fool Around and Find Out, along with more than a dozen Florida sheriff's offices and police departments. In addition to targeting adults for trying to consensually engage other adults in private sexual activity, immigration enforcement seems to have been a goal. A press release from the Polk County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) notes that 36 of those arrested "are here illegally." The sheriff's office also released photos of all of those arrested, with color-coded boxes around some arrestees to denote that they're undocumented immigrants or receiving welfare benefits. Among those arrested was former NFL player Adarius Taylor, a fact that has catapulted this story into national news. And that's meant a whole lot of outlets playing right into the police's preferred narrative. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has been pulling this trick year after year—arresting a bunch of sex workers and people looking to pay sex workers and then patting his team on the back for all of the "human trafficking" they allegedly stopped. A press release about Operation Fool Around and Find Out touts the arrest of "244 suspects during [a] nine-day human trafficking enforcement operation." In headlines—and, let's be honest, that's all many people will see—it sure sounds like the PCSO did some heroic work. But read beyond the headlines, and you'll note that no one was arrested on suspicion of human trafficking. Nor was anyone arrested on suspicion of sexual abuse of a minor, sexual assault, kidnapping, or any other charge that might indicate something other than consensual adult activity going on. According to the sheriff's office, the suspects were "involved in illegal acts related to soliciting prostitutes, offering to commit prostitution, or aiding/abetting or transporting prostitutes." This isn't just a semantic difference; it's the deliberate creation of a false narrative. When people hear "human trafficking," they imagine abductions, captivity, violence. Maybe the involvement of children. Maybe people being brought across borders. Not just one adult offering to pay another adult for sex or accepting payment for sex. And, in fact, this is a distinction under Florida law, too. Human trafficking—a first-degree felony—is a distinct crime from the offenses of offering to commit prostitution, soliciting prostitution, transporting someone for prostitution, or otherwise aiding and abetting prostitution, all of which are misdemeanors upon a first offense. (Second or third offenses on the same charges can be felonies.) Human trafficking of an adult must involve some degree of coercion, whereas the other offenses do not. In Operation Fool Around and Find Out, the vast majority of arrests were for prostitution or solicitation, with 93 people arrested for allegedly offering sex for a fee and 141 people arrested for allegedly agreeing to pay an undercover cop for sex. In addition, 10 people were arrested for driving someone suspected of the other crimes or facilitating them in some way. The vast majority of the charges stemming from these arrests—284—were misdemeanors. In addition, 102 felonies were charged. The inclusion of ICE and Homeland Security in this operation suggests that immigration enforcement was one goal. This is often a sneaky motive behind prostitution stings disguised as human trafficking operations. But we shouldn't discount good, old-fashioned puritanism and sex shaming as another motive for Polk County authorities. "Several suspects either left their wives or girlfriends at home, or the women thought their partners were at work, visiting a friend, or going to the gym," states the press release from the Polk County Sheriff's Office. And just for fun, it threw in a little class shaming, too, noting that "22 said they were receiving government assistance." Toward the bottom of the press release, a quote from Sheriff Judd notes that "in addition to these 244 arrests, we also arrested 11 child predators who solicited who they thought were children online." Judd seemingly wants to give the impression that Operation Fool Around and Find Out did more than just arrest people for wanting to engage in consensual adult activity. But those 11 arrests were part of a separate operation, with its own name: Operation Child Protector VI. They appear to have nothing to do with the other 244 arrests. Operation Child Protector VI was a classic To Catch a Predator sting, and these can come with their own due process problems. I'm certainly not here to defend adults arranging to meet a 14- or 15-year-old for sex, but it's unclear if these types of stings actually stop predators or just create criminals out of people who would never actually make such a move without undercover cops luring them in. At the very least, it seems like police time and resources might be better spent stopping harms against actual children who are being abused. What is clear, however, is that catching child predators in stings like those set up by Polk County authorities does not actually require arresting nearly 100 unrelated sex workers and publishing their photos online. It does not require arresting a bunch of men who simply want to be with another adult, and it does not require making a little chart to tell the public which ones receive public assistance and which ones are here illegally. Orgasmic meditation on trial: I continue to follow the trial of Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz, former leaders at the company OneTaste and proponents of orgasmic meditation. I covered the early days of the trial for this newsletter last week (and wrote at length about the prosecution more generally back in February). For more recent updates, check out this and this thread on X (or click here and here if you prefer Bluesky). Overall, court proceedings have continued to revolve around some pretty absurd notions about agency and consent, with prosecutors suggesting that Daedone and Cherwitz are guilty of conspiracy to commit forced labor because some employees felt like it was difficult to leave OneTaste since they had tied their whole identities, social lives, and professional goals up in the company. Throughout the proceedings, there's also been a persistent theme of people rewriting history. Government witnesses will say that their experiences with OneTaste were bad, but contemporaneous social media posts will say they were extremely happy and excited about their lives and work. Government witnesses will say that they feel uncomfortable about sexual activities that were part of the community or part of their jobs, then admit that they never expressed this discomfort to Cherwitz or Daedone or anyone else—and often indicated then, in various ways, that they were fine with or even enthusiastic about it. Proceedings have also been full of a lot of psychobabble explanations about why college-educated women in their 20s and 30s were somehow unable to make their own financial, professional, social, and sexual choices. The government wants to pretend this case is about helping women, but watching these court proceedings, one would get the impression that women are too fickle and fragile to make any decisions for themselves. See also, in The American Conservative: "Christians Should Oppose Feds' Targeting Sex Company." "Revenge porn" bill becomes law: President Donald Trump has signed the TAKE IT DOWN Act into law, instituting a new online censorship scheme under the auspices of thwarting revenge porn and AI-generated "nonconsensual intimate visual depictions." • Bills to ban kids from social media are advancing in Texas and in Nebraska. The Texas bill is notable because, unlike age-verification bills that have been passed in other states, it prohibits anyone under age 18 from having an account (usually, the age limit is a bit lower) and contains no exception for cases where a teen has obtained parental consent. • A Virginia politician has come out as "ethically non-monogamous." Yvonne Rorrer, a candidate for Virginia's House of Delegates, apparently wanted to get ahead of the story, since "in politics, people love to dig up the unexpected and spin it into a spectacle," as she put it on social media. "I'm sharing this because I believe in radical honesty, and I refuse to live in the shadows waiting for information to be leaked. If someone's going to talk about my life, it's going to be me." • The Kids Online Safety Act is back. "Senators have once again put forward the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), reviving a bill that, if enacted, would radically reshape how Americans experience the internet," notes the nonprofit group Reclaim the Net: Promoted as a measure to protect children, this latest version now carries the backing of Apple, a tech giant that has publicly endorsed the legislation as a meaningful step toward improving online safety. But behind the bipartisan sales pitch and industry support lies a framework that risks expanding government control over online content and eroding user privacy through mandated age verification and surveillance infrastructure. • A Nevada bill (Assembly Bill 209) that "would grant sex workers immunity from criminal liability from prostitution-related offenses if they call 911 seeking medical assistance," as the Nevada Current put it, is opposed by local police groups but still advancing in the legislature. "The bill was originally broader and included protections for sex workers who called the police if they were victims or witnesses of crime, including assault or human trafficking. In an attempt to appease law enforcement, Orentlicher narrowed the bill specifically to protect sex workers seeking medical assistance," the Current points out. It passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 15, having previously passed out of the state Assembly. It has until the end of this Friday to pass the full Senate or it will be dead. • A Texas bill that would have held bookstores liable for the "distribution, transmission, or display of harmful material to a minor" is likely dead. "The bill, filed by Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, did not get a second reading on the House floor last week, making it effectively dead for this legislative session," reports KERA News. "However, the bill could technically still be revived as an amendment tacked on to another bill in the legislature." • The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)—formerly Morality in Media—is suing several porn platforms on behalf of a Kansas grandmother who says her teenage grandson was able to access them, in violation of Kansas age-verification law. The post ICE Helps Round Up Sex Workers in Florida appeared first on
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Time of India
Former NFL linebacker Adarius Taylor arrested in massive Florida human trafficking sting involving over 250 suspects
Former NFL linebacker Adarius Taylor has been arrested as part of a sweeping human trafficking investigation in Florida. Once celebrated for his grit on the field, Taylor now faces serious legal trouble after being charged with felony negligent child abuse and misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Adarius Taylor's post-NFL life takes dark turn with arrest in 255-person trafficking sting The arrest came during a nine-day sting operation dubbed " Operation Fool Around and Find Out ," conducted by the Polk County Sheriff's Office. More than 250 individuals were detained in the crackdown, which targeted human trafficking, child exploitation, and illegal immigration. Among those arrested, Taylor's case stood out not just because of his public profile, but because of the disturbing circumstances surrounding his detainment. According to the authorities, Taylor, 34, brought his six-year-old child to the operation and left the child unattended in a locked Ford F-150 while he allegedly attempted to solicit sex from an undercover officer. 'He not only brought his 6-year-old child to the operation, but he left his 6-year-old child in the car when he went to do the operation,' Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference. In the affidavit obtained by media outlets, including PEOPLE, Taylor responded to an online escort ad and entered a private room where he encountered an undercover female officer. When asked if he preferred sex or oral sex, Taylor reportedly requested a massage before abruptly leaving the room, at which point he was taken into custody. Shockingly, he did not mention the child left alone in the car, who was later discovered by law enforcement. The child, who suffers from epilepsy and other medical concerns, was later reunited with their mother. Sheriff Judd didn't mince words when speaking about Taylor, stating, 'Obviously he must have hit one too many people as a linebacker, because his brain cells are scrambled.' Tired of too many ads? go ad free now He also criticized the former NFL player for jeopardizing his child's safety, remarking, 'He shouldn't have shown up in the first place, but to leave that child, my goodness.' Taylor's fall from grace is particularly tragic given his once-promising career. He entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2014 with the Carolina Panthers and went on to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cleveland Browns. Known earlier as Adarius Glanton, he changed his name in 2018 to honor his father. His best season came in 2018, when he posted a career-high 60 tackles and five passes defended with the Buccaneers. After leaving the NFL, Taylor briefly returned to professional football in 2023 with the CFL's Calgary Stampeders. But now, instead of headlines about his athletic feats, he finds himself at the center of a scandal that underscores the darker side of fame and personal choices. Also Read:
NBC Sports
19-05-2025
- NBC Sports
Sting operation results in felony and misdemeanor charges for former NFL LB Adarius Taylor
Former NFL linebacker Adarius Taylor, who appeared in 88 regular-season games with 18 starts over seven seasons, recently was arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges as part of a human trafficking sting operation in Florida. Via Silas Morgan of the Orlando Sentinel, Taylor was one of more than 250 who were arrested as part of 'Operation Fool Around and Find Out,' which ran from May 2-10. Taylor faces only misdemeanor charges for solicitation of prostitution. By leaving his six-year-old child in the car while he entered the site of the sting operation, Taylor ended up being charged with felony negligent child abuse without bodily harm. Per the Polk County sheriff's office, 141 were charged with soliciting prostitution, 93 were charged with offering to commit prostitution, 10 were charged with offenses related to prostitution such as aiding and abetting or transporting prostitutes, and 11 were charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex or other child sex crimes. Undrafted in 2014, Taylor played for the Panthers, Buccaneers, and Browns. He appeared in 15 games with 10 starts for the 2018 Buccaneers.
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Cops reveal disgraced ex-NFL man's shocking move moments before meeting a prostitute
Ex-NFL defender Adarius Taylor was arrested last week after leaving his 6-year-old son in his car to meet up with a prostitute, local police in Florida stated. The incidents with Taylor allegedly took place last week after the former Cleveland Brown responded to a fake internet posting that promised escort services in exchange for cash. Taylor allegedly took his child to an undisclosed location, where he left the child in the car before he contacted with an undercover officer inside what looks to be a hotel room, per TMZ. Police video shows Taylor talking with the undercover cop about a possible transaction before he scampers out of the room. He was arrested moments later on prostitution-related charges, with matters getting far worse for the former linebacker when his son was discovered. 'This guy here, obviously he must have hit one too many people as a linebacker because his brain cells are scrambled,' Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a news conference. 'He shouldn't have shown up in the first place, but to leave that child? My goodness. So he picked up a child neglect charge along with everything else.' Judd added that Taylor's son had 'a lot of medical issues' as a result of the incident. 'And he left this child alone that should have never been left alone because of medical conditions,' Judd added. Taylor's son 'is doing fine' after he was picked up from the incident by his mother. Taylor spent four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and three years with the Carolina Panthers in addition to his stint with the Browns. The 34-year-old last played professional football with the Calgary Stampeders in 2023, spending several weeks on their practice squad.
