A Disney World employee was among 12 men detained by Florida law enforcement for allegedly soliciting children to have sex online, officials said.
The suspects, aged between 20 and 67, face a total of 49 criminal charges following a two-week covert investigation called “Operation Child Protector II,” the County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday of Polk.
Among those arrested is Zachary Hudson, 30, who worked as a bus driver at Disney World, police said.
Between June 4 and 5, Hudson allegedly exchanged messages online with a covert detective posing as a 15-year-old girl.
The detective asked Hudson if he had a problem with her for only 15 years, to which he always replied that “my older self doesn’t bother you,” according to authorities. He later told her that “age is just a number.”
The conversation moved to text messages, where police say Hudson described the sexual acts he wanted to do to her. He also sent a nude photo to the girl, police said.
“What would an operation be, whether it’s a porn investigation or a predator operation or a human trafficking operation, without a Disney employee? We always have a Disney employee,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told WKMG-TV.
Police arrested 12 people between the ages of 20 and 67 in the operation. Polk County Sheriff’s Office
Police obtained an arrest warrant from Hudson and he was arrested in Orlando.
He looked like he was wearing his Disney World uniform when he was arrested, a photo taken by the outlet shows.
He is charged with one count of misuse of a two-way communication device and one count of transmitting material harmful to a minor and being incarcerated in Orange County Jail.