Police arrest 13 men in undercover child sex sting operation, 2 suspects worked at Disney World
A weeklong undercover child sex sting operation resulted in the arrest of 13 male suspects, two of which worked for Disney World, the Florida Polk County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
Detectives made the arrests after posing as underage teenagers on social media platforms and other online applications as part of a sting called “Operation Cyber Guardian II.” Together, the alleged suspects face a total of 41 felony and three misdemeanor charges.
Eight of the 13 suspects agreed to meet with who they believed was an underage child at a location in Polk County. Three others assumed they were talking to a parent or guardian who wanted their child to learn about sex by arranging an encounter with the suspect.
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Five of the men were arrested and booked in jails in their respective counties, with two being held in custody in Orange and Brevard counties. Those arrested also reportedly sent sexually explicit content to detectives posing as young teenage boys and girls.
One of the suspects, 42-year-old Kevin Sanders of Winter Garden, told detectives that he was employed by Disney as a roving IT support specialist. He was also a member of the company’s YES Program (Youth Education Series), which offers educational opportunities to students ages 5 to 18. Sanders is married and has two children.
The Disney employee began a conversation in August with a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl, wherein he explained that they would have to be careful due to her age. He later admitted to detectives that he also had conversations of a sexual nature with someone he believed to be 14 years old.
Sanders had allegedly communicated with detectives posing as underage children for years, but authorities only obtained a warrant for his arrest on Sept. 7. He was charged with one count of transmitting harmful material to a minor and one count of using a computer to solicit a child for sex.
Joshua Cummins of Davenport, 28, also worked for Disney as a construction subcontractor. Cummins began talking with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl in September, telling the girl he wanted to play a game where the winner would have a sexual act performed on them.
After traveling to an undercover location to meet the girl, the suspect was arrested and charged with one count of traveling to meet a minor, one count of use of two-way communication device to commit a felony, and one count of attempted lewd battery. He was released after paying an $18,000 bond.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office worked alongside police departments from Auburndale, Bartow, Davenport and Tampa for the operation. The sheriff's office also received assistance from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, Orange County Sheriff's Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Office of the State Attorney 10th Judicial Circuit, State Attorney Brian Haas.
“We will continue to conduct proactive operations like this to search out these evil predators before they get to our children,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press release. “Thanks to the hard work of our detectives and the detectives in our partnering agencies, these 13 predators have been arrested. We are going hold them criminally accountable for their attempts to sexually abuse, groom, and corrupt our children.”
The sheriff urged parents to monitor their children’s use of apps and online gaming that enables them to text with others. Judd instructed parents to frequently check their child’s devices and utilize parental controls to safeguard their children from predators.
In a separate arrest in August, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia announced the arrest of two men who allegedly sexually abused their adopted sons and uploaded the abuse online. The suspects, William and Zachary Zulock, who are a couple, were jailed on charges related to aggravated child molestation and sexual exploitation, according to the Walton County inmate list.
As NBC reported last month, the investigation into the married men began on July 27, after authorities received a tip from a third suspect who was reportedly downloading child sex abuse material. The tipster informed investigators about another person with a child at home who was producing homemade sexual material.
That same night, authorities raided the Zulock’s home in Oxford after obtaining a search warrant. According to a WSB-TV news report, the Walton County’s Division of Family and Child Services joined deputies in the raid to secure the safety of the adopted brothers.
"A small team was dedicated to moving directly to the children to ensure their safety while a team engaged with the adults in the home, securing the scene," officials said.
"During the execution of the search warrant, evidence that both adult males — the adoptive fathers of the sibling pair residing in the home — were engaging in sexually abusive acts and video documenting this abuse."
