Several Disney employees arrested in undercover child predator sting

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POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Seventeen people from across Florida have been charged as a result of “Operation Child Protector,” an undercover investigation into child predators, including multiple Disney employees.

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 16 suspects are from around Clewiston, Davenport,
Kissimmee, Orlando, Polk City and Zephyrhills. One was a visitor to the area from Los Angeles.

Sheriff Grady Judd said all of them intended to engage in sexual activity with what they believed were children, but instead they encountered undercover officers who were posing as children online.

“These are nasty, nasty, nasty people, and when we go through this, understand that obviously, we can’t even use the words they used,” Judd said. “We obviously can’t show you the pictures and the video clips that they sent to what they thought were 13-year-old little girls and little boys.”

Among these suspects were several employees at Disney World.

One couple, Savannah and Jonathan McGrew, wanted to engage into engage in a threesome with a 13-year-old girl and roleplay as stepparents and stepdaughter or in a shoplifting situation. Both suspects worked as custodians as Walt Disney Hollywood Studios.

“Are you kidding me? That’s how you’re talking to 13-year-old children,” Judd said.

Another suspect, Kenneth Javier Aquino, was a lifeguard at Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge who Judd said left his pregnant girlfriend to have sex with someone he thought was a child. Judd said he was dressed in his work clothes when he came to the undercover location.

“He’s a Navy veteran,” the sheriff said. “That’s right. He was working toward a dive team or a SEAL team or some kind of special ops job. They did a background check on him and found he had friends or affiliates that were gang members, and they tossed him.”

Judd said one suspect was HIV-positive who intended to have unprotected sex with a girl, although he didn’t identify which one.

“Fortunately, our detectives were there instead of the 13-year-old child, but guess what? Had it been a curious little girl as opposed to our very experienced detectives, she would have been directly exposed to HIV,” he said.

In total, the suspects face 48 felony charges and two misdemeanors, with nine of them having criminal histories. The suspects are identified as follows:

1. Kenneth Javier Aquino, 26, of Orlando — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, one count transmission of material harmful to minor
2. Irving Oliver of Lakeland, 41, of Lakeland — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
3. Jarrod Justice, 33, of Los Angeles, California — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
4. Lior Enbar, 31, of Orlando — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, giving false info to LEO
5. Joshua Ortega, 30, of Davenport — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, one count introduction of contraband into a detention facility, one count possession of PCP, one count possession of paraphernalia
6. Julio Enrique Cedeno, Jr., 45, of Zephyrhills — Two counts transmission of material harmful to minor, one count unlawful use of two-way communication device
7. Juan Guadalupe-Arroyo of Davenport — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count misrepresenting age online/use of computer to seduce a child, one count attempted lewd battery
8. Carlos Flores, 36, of Orlando — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count misrepresenting age online/use of computer to seduce a child, one count attempted lewd battery (F-3)
9. Enrique Medina, 47, of Orlando — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
10. Adam Smith, 30, of Kissimmee —One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
11. Jeremiah Davis, 27, of Clewiston — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
12. Thomas Snyder, 44, of Lakeland — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, one count transmission of material harmful to minor
13. David Ring, 34, of Lakeland — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery, four counts transmission of material harmful to minor
14. Philip Nelson, 27, of Polk City — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
15. Jonathan McGrew, 34, of Kissimmee — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, two counts transmission of material harmful to minor, one count attempted lewd battery
16. Savannah Lawrence 29, of Kissimmee — One count traveling to meet a minor for sex, one count attempted lewd battery
17. Edward McGaffigan, 37, of Orlando — One count unlawful use of a two-way communication device, three counts transmission of material harmful to minor (F-3) 

The Auburndale, Orlando, and Winter Haven Police Departments and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office were also involved in this investigation.