'April's Fools' child-sex sting: Disney guard among arrests
04/11/2016 4:11 pm PDT
A security guard at Walt Disney World and a youth football coach are just two of suspects busted in an undercover sex sting in Florida.
Casually strolling up to a house in a nice neighborhood, you'd never know it by looking at them, but they think they're about to have sex with girls as young as 10 years old.
"They bring Skittles, they bring candy, they bring condoms, they bring toys, because they are deviants, because they want to attract the children," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
When the perverts get to the door, they're busted -- all part of "Operation April's Fools," a seven-day sting that resulted in the arrest of 18 suspected child predators.
One of those guys, 26-year-old Jeffrey Binder, is a security guard at Disney World. He thought he was about to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.
He looked relaxed, texting on his phone. Then an SUV pulls up and an officer nabs him.
Binder's Disney uniform was sitting in the car at the time of his arrest.
Here's how the sting went down: Investigators posted fake ads, or profiles, on the Internet posing as children. And in no time men took the bait by chatting, texting even sending pornographic pictures of themselves to undercover detectives.
"We create zero illusion that they are ever talking about having sex with anything other than a child, right from the very beginning of the communication," said Sheriff Judd.
A meeting is arranged. The creeps drive to the house to follow through on the promise of sex with a child.
One of those men was a volunteer coach at Central Florida Christian Academy. Robert Gordon, 20, was arrested after showing up at the house with two condoms in his pocket, thinking he was going to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.
Larry Traharn, 33, thought he was meeting a teenager for sex. In his car, police found a loaded handgun.
Also busted at the house: former firefighter Keith Ingles. He thought he was texting a teenager, even telling her to delete the texts so her mom won't see them. Little did he know the cops were waiting.
And the oldest of the suspects: 60-year-old Howard Bishop, who arranged to meet up with who he thought was the father of a 10-year-old to broker a deal.
Bishop told an undercover detective he was "very much into nudism and quality family fun...very open minded and up for anything."
Those 18 suspects nabbed at the undercover house now face a total of 103 charges, 97 of which are felonies.
Looks like Operation April's Fools was no joke.
