Disney World Workers Among 22 Nabbed in Child-Sex Sting

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Captain Chaos

Captain Chaos

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Original Poster
Didn't see this posted... If it already is, please close or delete:

By Jeff Black
A sting operation by Florida police has led to the arrest of 22 men who sought children online for sex, officials said Wednesday.

Dubbed operation “Be Mine,” detectives occupied a vacant house in the Orlando area and posed as children or the parents of children in online chat rooms.

When suspects solicited the officers, arrangements were made to meet at the home for sex acts, police said.

As the suspects arrived at the Clermont home, they were taken into custody, a news release from the Lake County, Fla., sheriff’s office said.

Three of the men arrested — Patrick Holgerson, 32, Joel Torres, 32, and Robert Kingsolver, 49, — were identified as Walt Disney World employees by police.

Marilyn Waters, a Disney spokeswoman, told NBC News Wednesday night that all of the men have been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the charges.

Torres allegedly brought condoms with him to the home where he thought he would have sex with a 14-year-old, police said.

Alexander Vorobets, a 27-year-old employee of Rachel Strip Club in Orlando, brought a Happy Meal and condoms to meet a child of 13, according to the sheriff’s office.

Another suspect, Belal Shofique, 33, was identified by police as an Orange County paramedic.

Other suspects brought candy, necklaces and marijuana, police said.

Also arrested was 47-year-old David Griffith of Minneola, Fla., who told investigators he had recently made plans to have sex with a 7-year-old in another county, police said.

Officers tracked down emails between Griffith and the child's mother. After an investigation, the child was found. It was later learned the mother of the 7-year-old had sexually abused her, according to police. That case was still being investigated.

“It is somewhat discouraging, but I will tell you as long as those bad guys are out there trying to target our children here in this county we will continue to do these operations,” Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders told NBC station WESH in Orlando.
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Florida_is_hot

Florida_is_hot

Well-Known Member
You know Walt Disney World has about 70,000 employees.
You do not think any of them are criminals? How naive.

Do not care, much in any large population of people there will be people breaking laws.
Just because it is Walt Disney World never think you and your children carry no risk.
 
Soarin' Over Pgh

Soarin' Over Pgh

Well-Known Member
I really hate reading about these type of things. Unfortunately we live in a sick world, this happens, and I don't agree with it, but it could happen to any company not just Disney. Doesn't make it right. I'm glad these men were nabbed before anything (hopefully) happened... but still. You can't monitor everyone all the time.

Unless they have a magic band on, but still.
 
Captain Chaos

Captain Chaos

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
bethymouse said:
Background checks? Well, sometimes they work. Sometimes not, sadly.:(
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You're right... The problem with background checks is though, unless there was something on someone's record, there would have been no way to know... As Bolt said, with the amount of employees WDW has, some (many?) will slip through the cracks if there are no red flags in their background... Sadly, these probably aren't the only three deviants employed there...
 
WelshBatman

WelshBatman

Active Member
Background checks? Well, sometimes they work. Sometimes not, sadly.:(
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The background checks work, but if the person hasn't been caught committing these crimes then the background check will show nothing. People seem to have faith that the background check will act as a safety net and catch all the bad people, but it won't if that person has never been caught doing something. Many of the people involved with child safety down here talk about how Disney is a haven for these perverts and it's scary to think that but it's true. But no background check is gonna keep these people out if they haven't been caught. Odds are they will be caught but by that time it may be a little late.
 
Obi

Obi

Well-Known Member
RandomPrincess said:
1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse in the US that means there are A LOT of creeps out there praying on our children. I would think working with/near children would be attractive to someone who is a child sexual predator.
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sorry, but the #'s are worse than that...

for females the #'s are 1 out of 4 that they will get sexually abused.
for males the #'s are 1 out of 6 that they will get sexually abused. although i strongly believe that the #'s for males is closer to females due to society's views on males being "tough" and don't get abused, stigma that a boy gets "lucky", and the pressure to keep quiet is stronger on males...

i've done extensive research into this area. the information is both sickening and frightening. yes, this topic is taboo and gets pushed under the rug a LOT. that enables the predators/abusers to continue their path of destruction hurting more and more children. these topics need to be brought out in the open and discussed more often.
 
Tom

Tom

Beta Return
We had an employee at my construction company who got caught in the exact same type of sting operation here in Indiana several years ago. Thus, here are my comments:

1) Sting operations are great, and I fully support them. They prove intent, with no victims.

2) The actions of these people reflects upon Disney in no way, shape for form. Where did the other 19 suspects work? Why aren't their employers listed in the headline? Should be all or none - preferably none because their place of employment makes no difference.

3) Background checks are worthless if someone doesn't have a criminal record. They can't predict the future.

4) I guarantee Disney has "criminals" on its payroll, and among them are future (and possibly even former) sex offenders. So do thousands of other businesses. It's a sad fact of life, and it's police work like this that helps prevent people from becoming victims.
 
Obi

Obi

Well-Known Member
parents need to be able to talk to their children and make it ok for the child to talk to the parents. Parents also need to believe their child when they are presented with info from the child that they were abused.

also parents need to tell their children what's appropriate and what isn't. Statistically speaking, a child will be abused by someone that child knows versus a complete stranger.
 
WelshBatman

WelshBatman

Active Member
2) The actions of these people reflects upon Disney in no way, shape for form. Where did the other 19 suspects work? Why aren't their employers listed in the headline? Should be all or none - preferably none because their place of employment makes no difference.
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The other suspects' employment was made public. In fact when the story first broke yesterday it was all about a strip club worker that was busted. Once it was made clear that 3 Disney employees were arrested that became the headline cuz let's face it guys busted for trying to solicit sex from underage kids that work for Disney is really serious. The problem is, they do these stings down here every 5 minutes and always catch like 20-30 people every time. Even worse is that often enough they catch Disney cast and any headline with Disney in it is gonna catch attention.
 
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