Polk County's biggest undercover sting nets 281 arrests, including 17 theme park workers and an Orange County deputy

A weeklong Florida operation targeting child predators and human trafficking ended with 281 arrests and 488 new charges. Sheriff Grady Judd said 31 suspects traveled to meet children for sex, among them a former Mickey Mouse performer, a Disney World worker and a youth football coach.

A seven-day undercover operation in Polk County, Florida, has led to 281 arrests and 488 new charges, 198 of them felonies, Sheriff Grady Judd and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Friday, Oct. 30. Judd described "Polk Around and Find Out II" as the largest undercover operation his office has ever carried out.

The operation ran on two tracks. In the child predator sting, Judd said detectives identified 31 people who traveled to meet a child for sex, while the attorney general's office counted 32 arrests in that part of the operation. The human trafficking sting produced 249 arrests, including 117 alleged sex buyers and 122 people charged with prostitution. Only 40 of the suspects lived in Polk County; the rest came from elsewhere in Florida, 20 other states and 18 countries.

Disney and Universal employees among the arrested

Seventeen of those arrested worked at Central Florida theme parks: 13 at Disney and four at Universal. Judd said Disney told investigators it had fired its employees. One of them, 24-year-old Adam Snyder of ChampionsGate, said he worked in Toy Story Land at Walt Disney World; detectives said they found part of his uniform and his Disney ID in his vehicle when he arrived to meet what he believed was a child.

Collin Klaco, 25, told detectives he had once performed as Mickey Mouse at Disney World. According to the sheriff, Klaco messaged an undercover detective posing as the guardian of a 13-year-old boy and showed up carrying backpacks filled with wipes and diapers, some of them Disney-branded. "He may be the sickest, nastiest person we've ever arrested," Judd said. Klaco faces charges including traveling to meet a minor and attempted lewd or lascivious battery.

Investigators also arrested Rashion Crayton, 31, of Bartow, a youth football coach accused of exchanging explicit messages with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl and arriving with sex toys, as well as an active-duty U.S. Navy sailor. Traveling to meet a minor for unlawful sexual activity is a second-degree felony in Florida, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

A deputy relieved of duty

Orange County Sheriff's Office deputy Eric Raymond, 40, was charged with one count of soliciting prostitution after allegedly answering a fake online escort ad and agreeing to pay an undercover detective for sex. Judd said Raymond had been a school resource deputy at Independence Elementary School; the Orange County Sheriff's Office said he was being moved to uniform patrol before his arrest and has been relieved of law enforcement duties pending the outcome of the case.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd at the podium during the Polk Around and Find Out II news conference, with boards showing arrested suspects

The suspects arrived with 24 firearms, and 32 were charged with drug possession, including methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl. Nine were on probation and nine had been caught in earlier sheriff's office stings, two of them in the first "Polk Around and Find Out" earlier this year. The attorney general's office said 32 suspects were in the country illegally, 16 of whom have been turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Victims and a message to judges

Partner organizations identified 11 possible human trafficking victims during the operation. Advocates with the nonprofit One More Child said they spoke with 93 people, 18 of whom have so far accepted services. Uthmeier urged courts to hand down tough sentences to repeat offenders: "We need our judges to take this seriously." Judd, who also called on parents to keep a close eye on their children's online activity, put it bluntly: "These predators need to be locked up and stay locked up and away from children."

All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Photo: NBC 6 South Florida. Video and image: Polk County Sheriff's Office

Polk County's biggest undercover sting nets 281 arrests, including 17 theme park workers and an Orange County deputy