“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.
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.
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.
[FAC NOTE: We DID NOT write the above. People are on to “Shady Grady’s”… well shady tactics!]
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good. 👏 👏
but the prostitutes who are just trying to make a living should be given help to get out of the business
What if that is the line of work they want to be in?
If a man can be charged with traveling to meet a minor when there is in fact no minor, why can’t the FBI arrest Grady for child endangerment? If the sheriff’s office wasn’t placing a ‘child’ in danger, then there wouldn’t have been anyone traveling to meet said ‘child’.
Jim,…Nonsense
Is there any chance the prostitutes were forced into the sex trade? That does happen. Is there any way to find out how many, if any, could have been trafficked into the business?
Outstanding point!! A fictitious character can be used to create a crime for one direction but cannot be used in the other direction? Great point. The Sheriff’s office was using a fictitious character in actual human trafficking. They was doing the human trafficking. Instead of actual investigations to stop actual human trafficking rings. Meanwhile, they have done nothing to protect or save victims from actual human trafficking rings.
I’m change
Call em up and ask..😆
Here is a video on all the tricks that psyops use to influence the masses. Every one of them are used for the SOR. Very interesting and enlightening.
https://x.com/truthache68/status/1924822056119763356
We just did a podcast episode on a Polk County, Chris Hansen sting operation last week. I heard Shady Grady and Hansen have been friends for like 40 years.
Here’s this week’s podcast episode:
https://youtu.be/Uyh56W-jCeM?si=OyjxkVgXrAQVZJnG
In this episode of Stinging Back, we break down the script behind the setup—the manipulative tactics used by decoys in online sting operations to manufacture a crime. These stings aren’t about catching predators—they’re about scripting conversations designed to entrap.
We expose how decoys, often posing as underage but acting with the language, tone, and sexual experience of adults, use inducement tactics to lure men into conversations they wouldn’t have initiated on their own. The decoys entice, seduce, and groom the men—all while carefully guiding the chat to generate the exact responses needed to flip the narrative and accuse the men of the very behavior the decoys initiated.
We also challenge the line between fantasy and reality in these cases. Why do these stings rely on a fictionalized version of a minor—one that acts like a sexually assertive man? And if the fantasy is fabricated and the intent is manipulated, what does that say about the validity of the crime?
This episode is a deep dive into the deceptive playbook behind these operations and the dangerous precedent it sets for justice.
Amazing how there seems to be such a disproportionate number of “human trafficking” cases in Polk County Florida of all places. Lakeland and Winter Haven. If there were any cases of the magnitude professed by this sheriff, one would think Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Jacksonville. Large metropolitan areas, not sleepy little midsized Podunk places like Lakeland.
thumbs up! Maybe there needs to be a like button added?
Gerald,
You mean on FB page?There is 👍 up button