OSCEOLA COUNTY, FLA. — Two Polk County residents were among 21 people arrested during a child predator sting operation led by the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, officials announced Thursday.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said the arrests were made in coordination with the Central Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Office of Statewide Prosecution, Homeland Security Investigations and other law enforcement partners.
Among those arrested were:
- Leslie Augustus Anderson, 34, of Winter Haven, who was charged with traveling to meet a minor for unlawful sexual conduct and attempted lewd or lascivious battery of a child younger than 16.
- Eric Daniel Kreft, 50, of Davenport, who was arrested and has charges pending.
"For more than a week in September, undercover detectives posed online as 13- and 14-year-old children. In four cases, investigators posed as parents offering access to children as young as 7 years old," officials said.
Authorities said the suspects were aware of the children's ages, made plans to meet them and were arrested upon arriving in Kissimmee.
The defendants ranged in age from 22 to 64, and four traveled from outside Florida. Officials said two suspects left their own children at a vacation rental while attempting to meet minors.
Twenty of the suspects were arrested on charges of traveling to meet a minor for sex, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
"In Florida, there will be no mercy for the merciless," Uthmeier said. "Twenty-one more predators went looking for a child and found handcuffs."
"If anyone tries to prey on kids in this state, we will find you, arrest you and put you behind bars," he added.
'My heart breaks': Woman describes helping injured students after deadly school bus crash in Polk County
A woman on her way to work Monday morning found herself helping injured Winter Haven High School students after a school bus crash that killed two people.
