Polk County Trafficking Operation Nets 281 Arrests; Jacksonville Sailor Among Those Charged

A seven-day undercover operation led by the Polk County Sheriff's Office ended in 281 arrests, including 31 men accused of trying to meet children for sex, the sheriff's office said Friday in the report read this run. The operation, called 'Polk Around and Find Out II,' produced 198 felony and 290 misdemeanor charges, according to the sheriff's office. Detectives worked with Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Florida Department of Financial Services, the 10th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office, and police and sheriff's agencies across the region.

Detectives said 117 suspects traveled to an undercover location to negotiate sex for money and another 122 traveled to commit prostitution; those 122 people were screened with the groups One More Child and the Florida Department of Children and Families, and the screening identified 11 human trafficking victims, all of whom were offered services, according to the sheriff's office.

One of the child-predator suspects is 24-year-old Dang Thai of Jacksonville, a Navy petty officer third class stationed in Jacksonville, according to the sheriff's office. Detectives said he messaged an undercover detective posing as a 14-year-old and was charged with traveling to meet a minor, use of a computer to seduce a child and misrepresent age, use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony, and attempted lewd or lascivious battery on a minor. Arrests are accusations, and the suspects are presumed innocent unless convicted in court.