POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Deputies in Florida said that they arrested 13 men as part of an undercover operation focusing on the online solicitation of minors.
In a news release, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said that the arrests were part of a week-long undercover operation called “Operation Cyber Guardian II,” during which detectives posed online as underage children to set up meetings with “those who prey upon and travel to meet children for unlawful sexual activity.”
Among the men arrested was Kevin Sanders, whom deputies said had been talking with an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old girl. When he was arrested, Sanders told police that he works for Disney as a roving IT support specialist, and that he was previously a member of Disney’s YES Program (Youth Education Series), which is an educational program for children ages 5-18.
Deputies said that Sanders, believing he was speaking with a 13-year-old, said they would “have to be careful” because of her age.
“When you look and you think about what do evil people really look like? What does a pedophile really look like? What do some of the most despicable people in the entire world really look like? Here are your photos. This is them,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told WFLA.
A Disney subcontractor was also among the men arrested. Deputies said in the news release that Joshua Cummins believed he was talking to a 14-year-old girl, telling her he wanted to play a game with her. When he was arrested, Cummins told deputies that he was a construction subcontractor currently building a new roller coaster at Walt Disney World.
“This is your evil person that lurks beneath the level of society looking for children,” Judd told WFLA.
Detectives said in the news release that Juan Diaz was arrested after responding to an advertisement by an undercover detective posing as a mother wanting to introduce her 14-year-old daughter to sex. When Diaz was arrested, he told detectives that he works as a service technician to install firewalls and internet safety programs in elementary, middle and high schools to protect children from predators online.