An undercover investigation spearheaded by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida led to the arrests of more than 100 people, all charged with crimes related to human trafficking, prostitution and child predation.
On Wednesday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd held a press conference, along with partners from neighboring law enforcement agencies and nonprofit organizations, announcing the arrests of 108 men and women who fell into detectives’ trap.
The sting operation, which began on March 8 and lasted six days, was named “Operation March Sadness 2.” Judd explained that the name was inspired by the NCAA March Madness tournament, for which basketball fans fill out brackets predicting which colleges will make it to the championship.
“We have our own bracket,” Judd said from the podium. “But instead of brackets of winners, we have brackets of losers.”
During the lengthy press conference announcing the mass arrests, Judd spent several minutes highlighting suspects whose allegations he found particularly troubling. Among them were Disney employees, a worker at the Fun Spot family amusement park, a woman accused of trafficking another young woman, and a retired Illinois judge.
The Disney employees arrested include Xavier Jackson, a 27-year-old lifeguard at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, who is charged with three counts of harmful material and one count of unlawful communication for allegedly sending explicit photos to a detective whom he believed was a 14-year-old girl. Wilakson Fidele, who works at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café in Tomorrowland, and Ralph Leese, who works in information technology, were also arrested for allegedly seeking prostitutes.
Walt Disney World has placed the three employees on unpaid leave, PEOPLE confirms. An additional suspect whom Judd identified as a software developer for Disney has never been employed by the company, according to a representative.