Last month, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger promised investors that he would “quiet the noise” about the company’s culture war, sparring with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over Disney’s support for the LGBTQ agenda.
Apparently, some employees did not get the memo.
On Friday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced that three Disney employees and an employee at a hotel on Disney property were among more than 200 people scooped up in a sting operation targeting human traffickers.
“What would an op[eration] be if we didn’t arrest somebody that was employed by Disney,” Judd told reporters.
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The three Disney employees identified by Judd included a training coordinator, a security guard, and a custodian.
Judd, at the press conference, called it the “single largest undercover operation of its kind” in the history of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Because of its centralized location between Orlando and Tampa, Polk County has long been considered a hot spot for human and sex trafficking.
Underscoring that point, the Sheriff’s Office reported that 18 suspects were from out of state, including residing in Alabama, California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
The sting also snared 35 men believed to be illegally in the country.
As the Tampa Free Press reported, the weeklong operation netted 219 suspects charged with crimes related to human trafficking.
That total included 83 people arrested for soliciting a prostitute and traveling to the undercover location for sex. Five others were arrested for either profiting from prostitution or aiding and abetting prostitutes. Eight people drove prostitutes to the undercover location.
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The sting also hauled in more than 100 prostitutes, 21 of whom were identified as victims of human trafficking, Fox 13 reported.
Disney has been battling DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature for roughly 18 months over its opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law.
The law, which DeSantis enacted last year, prohibited school districts and classroom teachers from implementing lesson plans based on sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3. The law was expanded this year to cover all grades.
Disney brought Iger out of retirement last November to try shore up public and investor confidence in Disney after the brawl with Tallahassee and several box-office bombs that overtly promoted the LGBTQ agenda.
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