POLK COUNTY, Fla — The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said 19 people were arrested after being accused of attempting to meet minors for sexual encounters. Sheriff Grady Judd, known for conducting news conferences that often go viral, made the announcement Wednesday about the operation dubbed “Operation Child Protector VIII.”
One of the 19 suspects arrested was 68-year-old Thomas Hicks, known to many in Central Florida as Santa Claus. For about the last decade, he portrayed Santa Claus in the Lakeland Christmas Parade and in many other functions, Judd said.
He won’t be Santa this year, Judd added, because, “We arrested Santa Claus,” the sheriff said at the news conference holding up a series of pictures of the bearded Hicks donning his Santa costume.
“Now I want all of the children watching this to know, it’s not the real Santa Claus,” Judd said.
Hicks is accused of sending social media messages to an undercover detective who was posing as a 13-year-old girl’s guardian, according to a Polk County Sheriff’s Office news release. Hicks told the undercover detective that he would “pay $200 to have sex with the girl and was explicit in describing the sex acts he wanted to perform on the child,” the news release states.
He’s facing charges of Human trafficking, Traveling to meet a minor, Use of computer to seduce a child, and Use of two-way communication device to commit a felony.
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*The following is a list of names and ages of the other suspects arrested in the sting.
- Tyler Berrie, 33
- Trenton Berry, 51
- Noah Berumen, 33
- Gheorghe Bradley, 39
- Alan Brown Jr., 21
- Joshua Sanchez Bullard, 35
- Hongkun Cheng, 24
- Clinton Dees, 38
- David Esquivel, 57
- Noah Geraci, 27
- Derek Heard, 34
- Lonnie Hill Sr., 62
- Robert Johnson, 62
- Saulo Jurado-Rodriguez, 18
- Ahmed Morsi, 36
- Josue Negron, 27
- George Thomas Jr., 57
- Joshua Velez, 35
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