( Penn Live )
A Central Florida child porn investigation led to the arrest of 17 men, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office announced.
Among the 17, accused of possessing and sharing child porn, were two Disney workers and one was a former middle school assistant principal, officials said.
The 17 were arrested as a result of a monthlong special investigation by the PCSO computer crimes unit working under the title of “Operation Guardians of Innocence IV: Fall Haul.”
“The people arrested during this operation prey on the most innocent and vulnerable among us — our children. The undercover detectives who investigate these crimes have to see things that nobody should have to see, and no child should have to experience. Each one of these arrests has removed a predator from our streets, and the internet,” said Sheriff Grady Judd in a press release.
PCSO charged 672 felony counts of child pornography possession to the 17, Judd said. Each of them had a combined total of nearly 500 previous charges from separate incidents.
Among those arrested was William Hage, 76, who is 18 years retired from working in the Polk County education system as an administrator and assistant principal. Hage confessed to possessing child porn, and faces 252 charges of possession, Judd said.
Two Disney employees were also arrested, Brett Kinney, 40, and Donald Durr, 52, Judd said.
Kinney worked in Disney’s entertainment department the last 15 years and was most recently a manager, Judd said. He faces 24 counts of possession.
Durr worked 20 years as a maintenance worker at unidentified Disney property hotels; he faces eight charges of possession. He reportedly told investigators that he “was a pervert, but not a monster,” Judd said.
“Our number one priority is to protect all children,” Judd said. “That is our prime focus. If we as a society can’t protect our children, that’s a sad state of affairs. That doesn’t happen in Polk County.”
An investigation into the owned electronics of the 17 is ongoing at this time, Judd said.
Judd also addressed a separate investigation operation: Trick-Or-Treat / Sex Offenders Failure to Register, which saw the arrests of 14 additional men who had failed to register as sex offenders.
The combined 31 arrests was the most the agency has ever arrested at one time, Judd said.