Florida child sex sting nets 22, including theme park workers

The Washington Post

For a week, they arrived morning, noon and night. A total of 22 men, all seeking the same thing: sex with an underage girl.

One after another, they walked into a sparsely furnished house in Clermont, Florida, expecting to find a 10- or 12- or 14-year-old girl. Instead, they found justice.

Again and again, sheriff ’s deputies burst in and arrested the men for soliciting sex with a minor. Operation L & P was named after the two counties, Lake and Polk, collaborating on the undercover sting operation, which was timed to occur just before kids went on summer vacation. From May 18 to 25, detectives from both departments posed as underage girls or their parents in Internet chat rooms.

It’s a tried and tested technique for ensnaring sex offenders. In this case, however, the catch was particularly alarming. Not only because authorities caught enough suspects to field a football game, but because of whom they arrested.

Among those apprehended during the week-long sting was a handful of men whose jobs involved children, including three current and former theme park employees and a youth counselor.

Jeff Conrad, for example, told deputies that he had worked at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, half an hour away in Orlando, Florida. Disney told News13 in Florida that the man left Disney before the arrest.

“He traveled to have sex with a 14-yearold child,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday. “He had access to kids because, as he said, he was a Disney employee working at Magic Kingdom.”

Two more suspects worked at Orlando theme parks, Judd said: Ryan Mayer at SeaWorld and Tomas Adames at Universal Studios. (Both companies told local media after the arrests that the men are no longer employed with them.)

One of the most disturbing cases was the arrest of Ahmad Saleem, a 22-year-old community activist and youth counselor. He is the founder of Saleem Academy, an organization dedicated to empowering young Muslims. Saleem allegedly showed up to the sting thinking he was about to have sex with a 12-year-old. He also showed up in a vehicle with a specialty license plate reading: “Invest in Children.”

None of those arrested have filed pleas yet.

Authorities had little pity for Saleem or his fellow suspects.

“If you’re going to prey on children, the Florida sheriffs are going to come after you with a vengeance,” Judd said. “You never know from which county we’ll be looking for you.”

Judd has gained such a reputation for pursuing sex offenders in Polk that he approached authorities in neighboring Lake County, where he hoped suspects would be less suspicious, according to the Daily Commercial.

“This was a warning and a message that we are after these types of people,” he said. “If we didn’t get you in this operation, you better be sure we will in the next one. We are after you. Leave our children alone.”