Latest news with #FoolAroundandFindOut
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Sheriff reveals 26 illegal migrants not on federal 'radar' among 255 arrested in Florida sex-trafficking sting
A multi-level operation, aptly named "Fool Around and Find Out," nabbed 255 suspected human traffickers, child sex predators and illegal migrants in Central Florida. The Polk County, Florida, operation, conducted over nine days in May, resulted in the arrest of the highest number of individuals ever recorded in a single sting by the sheriff's office. Sheriff Grady Judd told Fox News Digital that the operation was a coordinated effort with multiple law enforcement partners, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which was embedded for the first time with the Central Florida department. "We made a lot of arrests. Our team preps in advance. We know what places to go on social media to find those evil people or to set up for them to come to us, so they did a remarkable job." Florida Sheriff Asks Trump's Ice To Remove Biden-era 'Shackles' One of the most startling revelations from the operation was 36 illegal migrants apprehended. Judd said 26 of them had not checked in with federal authorities, making them untraceable until this operation. Read On The Fox News App "Twenty-six of them were not even on the federal government's radar," he said. "They had snuck in the country and did not check in." The migrants arrested account for approximately 15% of the total, and Judd argued that their absence could have prevented that same amount of crime. "If those illegal immigrants weren't here in this country, then there would have been 15% less crime committed," he said. WATCH: Former NFL player arrested in Florida human trafficking bust The operation also revealed a cross-section of suspects from all walks of American life. Among those arrested were a medical doctor, an executive from the American Red Cross, active and retired military personnel, and even a former NFL player, Adarius Taylor. Prior to retirement in 2020, Taylor played for the Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns. Judd recounted that the ex-NFL player left his young, medically vulnerable child alone in a car while he allegedly sought sexual favors from an undercover officer posing as a prostitute. Another suspect allegedly visited the operation while his wife was battling cancer at home. "Are you kidding me?" Judd exclaimed. "Your wife is being treated for cancer. And at a time in her life where she needs you the most, you're turning out a trick with a hooker at an undercover location? That is incredible. There were all kinds of occasions, just like that." Detectives charged a total of 102 felonies and 284 misdemeanors during the investigation. The suspects' prior criminal histories included a combined total of 400 felonies and 519 misdemeanors, with charges such as premeditated murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated battery and sexual assault. "The online prostitution industry enables traffickers and allows for the continued victimization of those who are being trafficked," Judd said in a release following the sting. "Our goal is to identify victims, offer them help, and arrest those who are fueling the exploitation of human beings (Johns) and those profiting from the exploitation of human beings. Prostitution is not a victimless crime – it results in exploitation, disease, drug and alcohol addiction, violence, and broken families." Florida Man Impersonates Ice Agent, Threatens To Deport 2 Men, Police Say Judd said Polk County has a zero-tolerance stance on criminal activity. "This is not the last one. This is just the last one. There's going to be another one, and another one and another one." Judd's message is clear: those who come to Florida with criminal intent will not remain in the shadows and will be publicly held accountable. "Florida is the vacation state. People come from all around the world with their children," he said. "We want to make sure that it's a safe environment, and it is." "If you think you're gonna sneak here and, 'Hey, what goes on in Florida stays in Florida', that's wrong," he said. " I'll put you on blast all across the nation, and that's a guarantee."Original article source: Sheriff reveals 26 illegal migrants not on federal 'radar' among 255 arrested in Florida sex-trafficking sting
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
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
Former NFL Linebacker Adarius Taylor Arrested in Connection with 255-Person Human Trafficking Sting
Former NFL player Adarius Taylor has been arrested The retired linebacker was charged with felony negligent child abuse without bodily harm and misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution Taylor, 34, was allegedly part of a human trafficking ring in which 255 people were arrested over a nine-day period in Polk County, NFL linebacker Adarius Taylor has been arrested in connection with a human trafficking ring in Florida, authorities said. Taylor, 34, was charged with felony negligent child abuse without bodily harm and misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution, according to his arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE. On Thursday, May 8, Taylor was arrested on accusations that he solicited prostitution after responding to an online escort advertisement. In a redacted video shared with PEOPLE, Taylor appears to be seen entering a private room where an undercover female detective was stationed. 'The undercover deputy asked if he wanted oral sex or sex first where the defendant asked for a massage,' the affidavit states. 'At this point in time, the defendant left and defendant was then taken into custody.' Authorities say they then found Taylor's 6-year-old child in a locked Ford F-150 parked outside the location. 'It should be known once the defendant was in custody he did not disclose his child was in the vehicle alone,' the affidavit states. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The retired athlete was among 255 people arrested in Polk County, Fla. over a nine-day period as part of the sheriff department's operation titled, "Fool Around and Find Out.' 'There were three components, there was a human trafficking component, a child predator component and an illegal immigration component,' Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference. While discussing Taylor's arrest, Judd described him as having an 'outstanding career in the NFL." Over seven seasons, Taylor played for the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 'Listen, the dude made a lot of mistakes,' Judd claimed. "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.' After describing the child as having 'mental' and medical issues, including epilepsy, Judd said the child is now with his mother. 'This guy here, obviously he must have hit one too many people as a linebacker 'cause his brain cells are scrambled,' Judd said, while tapping a photo of Taylor. 'He shouldn't have shown up in the first place, but to leave that child, my goodness.' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
Retired Tampa police officer sentenced to more than a century in prison after child porn conviction
The Brief A former Tampa police officer will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was handed a lengthy prison sentence on Friday. It comes after he was convicted earlier this year on 100 counts of possessing child pornography. He was working as a reserve officer with TPD when more than 100 images of child pornography were found on his devices. TAMPA, Fla. - A former Tampa police officer was sentenced to more than a century in prison. On Friday, Paul Mumford was sentenced to 111 years in prison, after being convicted earlier this year of 100 counts of possession of child pornography. Mumford worked for the Tampa Police Department from 1986 to 2015, when he retired as a Sergeant. He returned shortly after as a reserve officer. RELATED: Retired Tampa police officer arrested on 100 counts of child pornography, TPD chief says The backstory A tip in 2021 led investigators to search Mumford's devices. In 2022, they also searched his home and found more than 100 images of child pornography on his devices. "There are at least 162 identified, exploited children that were located in the images on his device," a prosecutor with the 13th Judicial Circuit said. At the time of his arrest, TPD confirmed that Mumford worked on the department's sex crimes unit from 2008-2009. On Friday, the state pointed to other evidence that was revealed during Mumford's trial earlier this year. Follow FOX 13 on YouTube "Also in his possession were numerous stories that did come out during the course of the trial that confirmed Mr. Mumford's wants, desires and, quite frankly, his like and interest in the child pornography that was located on his devices," the prosecutor said. The other side However, Mumford's attorney argued that this was all one incident, as opposed to many different incidents. "It is one criminal act of pointing and clicking and downloading a series of files," Mumford's attorney said. His attorney argued that the sentencing guidelines are disproportionate and incredibly harsh for the conduct that he was convicted of. READ: Grady Judd: 255 suspects, including 36 illegal immigrants, busted in operation 'Fool Around and Find Out' "These files were, whomever deleted them, were deleted in a 26-second period within the first six hours of the charging information, so to say that there is some evidence of multiple downloads or multiple images is contrary to the evidence that their expert agreed to," Mumford's attorney said. Mumford's attorney also pointed out that Mumford has no prior criminal record and has a record of service to the community. The prosecutor pointed to data shown during the trial, that there were multiple access dates and modify dates recorded on the device. What they're saying "There was no evidence that this was a one-time click," the prosecutor said. "There was no evidence that Mr. Mumford simply got onto Google, searched for "child pornography" and then, all of a sudden, all of these images magically appeared on his devices." When the judge sentenced Mumford, he shared some remarks of his own. "This was not just an accidental click on Google where these child pornography pictures showed up," Judge Robin Fuson said. "One does not find child pornography accidentally." The Source The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Kylie Jones. WATCH FOX 13 NEWS: STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app:Apple |Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Swim advisory lifted for 3 Pinellas County beaches
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A swim advisory has been lifted for three Pinellas County beaches, the Florida Department of Health announced Friday. The Department of Health in Pinellas County issued a public health advisory for Clearwater Beach near Mandalay Park, Sand Key County Beach, and Indian Rocks County Beach on Thursday due to high bacterial levels. Former Bucs player among 255 arrested in 'Fool Around and Find Out' undercover investigation Tests conducted on Friday showed that the water quality at all three beaches now shows 'an acceptable level of Enterococcus bacteria established by state guidelines,' the health department said. Enterococci bacteria normally inhabit the intestinal tract of humans and animals, which could cause human disease, infection, or rashes, officials said. The bacteria could have come from stormwater runoff, pets and wildlife, and human sewage, according to the health department. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
