Sheriff Grady Judd has conducted several stings in Polk County, Florida, over the years. The culprits come from all walks of life, but those working at a Disney park are a bit more worrisome than others. The latest sting targeted people attempting to meet a minor for sex. 17 people were arrested during a sting operation, 3 of which worked in Walt Disney World.
The sting was named “Operation Child Protector” between July 27th and August 1st, 2021. Three of those people apprehended were employed by the Disney parks at the time of their arrests. The current state of their employment, as of August 4th, is not known.
The Sheriff’s Office details the sting as follows:
The suspects communicated with and solicited who they thought were children between the ages of 13 and 14 for sex acts. The suspects showed up to an undercover location in Polk County at separate times to meet who they thought were children, to sexually batter them. Some of them transmitted pornographic images while grooming and soliciting the children online, and they were appropriately charged for that as well.
The story surfaced on Breaking 911 and listed a breakdown of all those charged by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The three Disney employees in question are Kenneth Javier Aquino, Jonathan McGrew, and Savannah Lawrence.
Aquino, at the time of his arrest, stated he was a lifeguard at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Jonathan McGrew and Savannah Lawrence claimed to be custodians at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. They arrived at the sting house in the same Uber.
The current state of their employment at the parks is not known. All three were charged with one count of “Traveling to Meet a Minor For Sex” and “Attempted Lewd Battery.” McGrew and Aquino were also changed with one count of “Transmission of Material Harmful to Minor.”
McGrew and Aquino both had previous criminal records. So that leads me to ask, what is Disney’s policy when it comes to hiring someone with a criminal background? If you’ve worked at the parks and know something about the hiring process, let us know in the comments.
[Source: Breaking 911]
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