In a release<\/a>, the sheriff\u2019s office explained that the weeklong sting \u2014 dubbed \u201cOperation Child Predator VIII\u201d \u2014 focused primarily on catching child predators.<\/p>\n\u201cWe started on Monday, April 20, and by Sunday, April 26, we wrapped it up,\u201d Judd said during a news conference. \u201cWe arrested 19 people, 16 of which traveled, thinking they were going to engage children in illegal sex. We call them child deviants. Child predators. Pedophiles.\u201d<\/p>\n
[Watch the full news briefing below]<\/p>\n
In addition, deputies said that three suspects sent nude photos to undercover detectives, and five suspects were from outside of Polk County. Meanwhile, seven of the suspects are married, and three are military veterans.<\/p>\n
But one of these suspects was identified as 68-year-old Thomas Hicks, who deputies said works in marketing for Tri-County Behavioral Health and plays \u201cSanta Claus\u201d every year at several different events.<\/p>\n
\u201cHicks sent social media messages to an undercover detective who was posing as a 13-year-old girl\u2019s guardian,\u201d the release reads. \u201cHe told the UC 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, but said that he would be gentle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas Hicks, 68, of Lakeland (Polk County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n
Furthermore, detectives said Hicks told them he\u2019s been married over 50 years, but he regularly goes onto known \u201cprostitution sites\u201d looking for prostitutes or companions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe arrested Santa Claus,\u201d Judd stated. \u201cNow, I want all the children who may be watching this to understand: it\u2019s not the real Santa Claus. OK?\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, Judd claimed that Hicks was well known across Polk County and much of Central Florida as a \u201cfor-hire Santa Claus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, one of our NGOs that was working with us said, \u2018Oh my goodness, I\u2019ve already booked him for a party next Christmas!\u2019\u201d Judd continued. \u201cNah. That\u2019s over with.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the news conference, Sheriff Judd brought out a photo that had been taken with him and Hicks a few weeks prior. (Polk County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n
Now, Hicks faces charges of human trafficking, traveling to meet a minor, use of a computer to seduce a child, and use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the other suspects arrested in this sting were identified as follows:<\/p>\n
List of suspects arrested in the operation, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (Polk County Sheriff’s Office)Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n
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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"POLK COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 On Wednesday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd took to the podium to announce the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7071,265,28,30,29,7154,1911,2546],"class_list":["post-252000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-children","tag-crime","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-lakeland","tag-polk-county","tag-strange-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}