Don’t Say ‘Grooming’: Disney Staff Busted in Child Sex Trafficking Sting

Just over a week ago, the CEO of Disney publicly opposed Florida’s new “anti-grooming” law, designed to prevent teachers from discussing sexuality and gender identity issues with K-3 students which, according to polls, is heavily supported by well over 60% of Americans.

And yesterday, and ironically, the good Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County held a news conference to discuss the conclusion of a large sting operation that nabbed 108 arrests, including many employees of Disney.

According to WESH in Florida, Disney confirmed at least three of the suspects are employed by the company:

The Polk County sheriff said more than 100 people were arrested in a prostitution, human trafficking and child predator sting.

Polk County detectives, along with a few other agencies, said they identified sex workers who posted advertisements online. They also identified the people searching the web for those sex workers.

Sheriff Grady Judd said the 108 people arrested, include a retired judge from Illinois, a few restaurant managers and several who work at Disney.

One of the suspects is 27-year-old Xavier Jackson from Kissimmee.

Judd said he’s accused of sending sexual pictures to what he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

“Did I mention that he just happens to be a lifeguard at the Polynesian Resort for Disney? You think there’s a few children around there? That’s right, I didn’t stutter. He was a lifeguard at the Polynesian Resort. And was bragging about that,” Judd said.

In the arrests were four Disney employees including a lifeguard at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, and a 24-year-old Orlando man who works at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café in the Magic Kingdom. Another works in Disney’s IT department. A Disney representative talked to WESH 2 News and said that “all of them have been placed on unpaid leave.” Most of the other arrests were involved with prostitution. 

This isn’t the first child sex sting Sheriff Grady Judd has executed that swept up Disney employees. Most recently he arrested several other Disney employees for the same crimes in both 2020 and 2021. Maybe the House of Mouse needs to better vet their staff, or perhaps stop appealing to those who want to groom children. When can we expect Disney’s CEO to publicly denounce this practice as passionately as he did the the Parental Rights in Education Act?