One Brought Milkshake, Gummy Bears To Exchange For Sex With Minor

WINTER HAVEN, FL – One man arrived for his "date" with a strawberry milkshake and a pack of gummy bears.

Another man left his twins celebrating their 15th birthdays at their Disney vacation resort so he could travel to Polk County to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex.

And a third man came prepared to have sex with a 14-year-old girl despite the fact that he is HIV-positive.

“If this doesn’t shock you, nothing will,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

In an investigation dubbed Operation Cyber Guardian, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested 15 men who traveled to Polk County to have sex with “young girls” they met through Internet chat rooms.

The “young girls,” however, were really undercover Polk County Sheriff’s detectives.

The operation involving 10 detectives ran from March 25 to 31 and attracted child predators from around the country, including Alabama, Texas and California, Judd said.

"They all actively tried to engage children, babies, in sexual conduct,” Judd said, “and the only reason they weren’t able to attack a child is because we were working undercover, pretending to be children...These predators are out there trying to violate our children. I am disgusted by their brazenness and callous indifference to the importance of protecting children.”

Even more shocking, said Judd, is the fact that the men arrested were able to live normal lives and keep their sexual deviance a secret.

One man from Houston, Texas, was a Department of Defense intelligence specialist with top secret clearance. Govind Kumar Gambhir, 30, was in Orlando for a training conference and traveled to Polk County to meet what he thought was a 15-year-old girl.

Two others were college students: one a student-athlete from Valdosta, Georgia, and another was a bio-chemical major at the University of Central Florida.

The 15 men face a total of 62 charges, including attempted lewd battery, use of a computer to seduce a child, transmission of harmful material to a minor, traveling to meet a minor, use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, misrepresentation of age online and uninformed HIV -infected sexual intercourse. Judd said more charges may be filed once the cell phones and computers of the accused men are inspected.

One arrest was especially disconcerting, said Judd. Jose Sandoval, 34, of Mulberry, was previously convicted for sexual assault on an 11-year-old but only served four years in prison, Judd said. The sheriff’s office has charged him with 100 counts of possessing child porn.

“How he was able to plea down a capital offense to four years is beyond me,” Judd said.

Anthony Schulte, 30, of Frostproof, was charged with 200 counts of possessing and distributing child porn. Some of the photos in his possession were of children as young as 18 months old, said Judd.

“It makes me sick to think he was out walking the streets,” the sheriff said.

Admittedly, said Judd, the operation consumed a lot of the sheriff’s office’s time and manpower.

However, he argued that the sting took 15 child predators off the streets, predators who might otherwise have harmed real children.

“If we don’t do this, we get people like that victimizing 10-year-old children,” Judd said, pointing to the recent arrest of Jonathan Diaz Fundora of Miami who is accused of raping a 10-year-old girl in a Motel 6 room.

On the second point, Judd said he strives to protect children from predators, wherever they live.

“I don’t want any child ever to be sexually battered," he said. "So we will chase these folks to the end of the earth to keep children safe from them.”

He said parents should heed this operation as a precautionary tale.

“I ask parents to please be involved with their children and monitor their online activity,” he said. “We cannot prevent predators from reaching out to our children, but we can educate our children and be proactive in catching a predator before they start to groom or violate our kids. Fortunately, we've prevented at least 16 of them from doing so."

Video via Polk County Sheriff's Office