Police officers posed as sex workers and buyers during the operation.
Sheriff Chad Chronister drew attention to what he described as two of the"more despicable" cases the force encountered.
A deputy posed as the stepfather of a 14-year-old girl trying to sell her for sex at a trailer park in north Tampa. The men arranged a time to meet up with the child to perform acts that are"so repulsive that I won't even begin to describe them," Chronister said. The suspects negotiated a price to have sex with the girl, he said.
In July, undercover deputies arrested Steven Cook, 29, at a hotel where he had taken two women for a sex exchange that he organized, according to police. Chronister described Cook as a"pimp" and a gang member. Cook forced one of the women to have sex with men despite her complaints of pain caused by a medical condition, Chronister said.
Chronister acknowledged the Tampa Bay area has a reputation as the"strip club capital of the world." In the run-up to major upcoming events such as the Superbowl, WrestleMania, and the Final Four, Chronister said the force wants to"make it clear that human trafficking will not be tolerated in Hillsborough County.
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