Lake County, FL
Categories:
Tactics Used |
|
---|---|
Reverse stings | ✓ |
Shaming | ✓ |
Auto seizure | ✓ |
Community service | ✓ |
Public education | ✓ |
Neighborhood action | ✓ |
SOAP orders | ✓ |
John school | ✓ |
Letters | ✓ |
Cameras | ✓ |
Web stings | ✓ |
License suspension | ✓ |
Lake County is located in north-central Florida, and has just over 300,000 residents. Prostitution and domestic minor sex trafficking have been reported in the county, which includes the city of Leesburg. For example, in April 2014 an undercover operation resulted in the rescue of a 14-year-old victim of human trafficking and the arrests of 44 alleged prostitutes, pimps and “johns.” The suspected trafficker was accused of abducting the 14-year-old from a gas station, trying to force her to have sex with a man for money at an Orlando home, and raping her himself before taking her to the motel where he thought another customer awaited, according to an arrest affidavit. In April 2014, the task force was also investigating an estimated 10 possible human trafficking cases in the county. The county also has had numerous homicides of prostituted women dating back to the early 1990s, which have been investigated as potential serial murders.
In April 2014, the LCSO conducted a large-scale reversal resulting in the arrest of 24 johns (and 20 prostituted women). Over the course of several days, LCSO deputies “set up outside an undisclosed hotel, where men willing to pay for sex and women offering sex for money showed up at the designated hotel room.” During the course of the investigation, officers recovered a 14-year-old female who had previously been kidnapped from an Orange County gas station forced into prostitution by an adult male trafficker. As with its earlier operation, the LCSO released the names (and in this case, arrest photos) of all individuals intercepted during the sting.
In August 2018, Sheriff’s detectives arrested six buyers seeking sex with children during a major prostitution sting that lasted from Aug. 16 to Aug. 26. The six men thought they were going to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex at a vacant house in south Lake County, but instead met undercover investigators and were arrested. One man brought alcohol, others carried condoms and candy. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office collaborated with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and other member agencies of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to conduct the operation.
Key Partners
- Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Key Sources
- Web-Based Reverse Stings and Shaming:
- “Lake County Sheriff’s Cyber Crime Detectives Bust 22 in Undercover Sting Operation”, Tri-County Sun Times, February 12 2014.
- “Operation Be Mine: 22 Arrested in Lake County Child Sex Sting”, CNN/Bright House Networks, February 13 2014.
- “44 Arrested in Lake County Prostitution Sting”, CBS/WKMG-TV 6, April 15 2014.
- “Authorities Arrested 44 in Prostitution Sting”, South Lake Press, April 15 2014.
- “Deputies Say 44 Arrested, 14-Year-Old Rescued in Lake County Prostitution Bust”, ABC/WFTV-TV 9, April 15 2014.
- “Kidnapped Teen Rescued during Undercover Sex Sting”, CNN/Bright House Networks, April 15 2014.
- http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/20180828/task-force-nabs-40-people-in-major-sex-sting (2018)
- http://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2018/08/29/40-arrested-in-lake-county-undercover-child-sex-operation (2018)
- Sex Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation in the Area:
- “Cops: Man Procured Teens”, Leesburg Daily Commercial, November 27 2002.
- “Deputies Say 44 Arrested, 14-Year-Old Rescued in Lake County Prostitution Bust”, ABC/WFTV-TV 9, April 15 2014.
- “Kidnapped Teen Rescued during Undercover Sex Sting”, CNN/Bright House Networks, April 15 2014.
- “Prostitution Sting Rescues Teen Victim of Alleged Human Trafficking”, South Lake Press, April 15 2014.
- “Local Cops Bracing for Human Trafficking Problem”, South Lake Press, April 23 2014.
- Documented Violence against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:
- “Lake Police Seek Kin of Woman Found Dead”, Ocala Star-Banner, September 15 1991.
- “Officials Find Possible Links in 25 Killings”, Ocala Star-Banner, January 7 1993.
- “Investigators Say Probe of Killings Simply Routine”, Ocala Star-Banner, January 8 1993.
- “No Firm Links in Cases, Officials Say”, Ocala Star-Banner, January 8 1993.
- “Police Look at Similarities in Slayings”, Orlando Sentinel, January 8 1993.
State | Florida |
Type | County |
Population | 303186 |
Location |
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