147 Sex Trafficking Arrests Made In Weeks Before Super Bowl

TAMPA, FL - In an online chat room known for illicit activities, Juan Cano Jr. struck up a deal with a sex trafficker. He agreed to pay $15o to have sex with a 17-year-old girl.

Cano Jr. headed to a local hotel on Feb. 4 to meet the girl. When he opened the hotel room door, instead of being greeted by a 17-year-old girl, he was surrounded by Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies.

The sex trafficker Cano Jr. made a deal with online was actually an undercover deputy participating in an investigation called Operation Game Over, aimed at combating sex trafficking in the county in the week leading up to the Super Bowl.

During Operation Game Over Feb. 1 to 6, undercover deputies made a record number of arrests. Cano Jr. was among 75 johns and pimps who were charged. The operation also rescued six human trafficking victims.

Undercover deputies targeted massage parlors, hotels, motels and online chat rooms. Those arrested ranged from 19 years old to 73 years old., and included three men charged with human trafficking, said Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister during a news conference Thursday.

The investigation followed Operation Interception in January in which 71 people were arrested for soliciting sex including active-duty military members, a Christian school teacher, a firefighter, a banker, construction workers, local business owners and two registered sex offenders.

"The sickening practice of human trafficking is a crime that is nothing less than modern-day slavery," said Chronister. "Escaping the wrath of a trafficker takes courage and, in some cases, is nearly impossible. For this reason we have not and will not relent in our efforts to stop the demand, and we are accomplishing this one arrest at a time."

Also arested during Operation Game Over were Alvin Lynch Jr., 34, and Scott Fitzgerald, 27, who placed an online ad offering the sexual services of a woman. Undercover deputies answered the ad and agreed to meet the woman at a Tampa hotel, said Chronister.

Lynch and Fitzgerald drove the woman to the hotel on Feb. 5. After the woman entered the hotel room to meet her "customer," deputies arrested the two men while they were waiting in a vehicle in the parking lot.

The woman told detectives there were at least two other women who were being trafficked by Lynch and Fitzgerald, Chronister said.

Deputies tracked down both victims, one of whom was 17 years old. The teen was taken into custody by the sheriff's Child Protective Investigations Division and the adult women were placed in the care of Selah Freedom, a nonprofit that provides services and counseling to human trafficking survivors.

"Individuals who buy sex, whether they know it or not, may be exploiting a human trafficking victim for their own pleasure," said Chronister. "Those who offer sexual services may be doing it against their will and an arrest may be their only chance at freedom."

According to the FBI, the Super Bowl is the No. 1 draw in the country for human traffickers.

During the week leading up to the big game, the sheriff's office arrested 32 people at hotels and motels, 27 people along roadways, eight women soliciting sex massage parlors and eight men for agreeing to pay for sex with minors who were actually undercover detectives.

Frank Hicks, 31, Joseph Garcia, 27, Tyler Scalici, 26, Keith Prevatt, 34, and Cori Avery, 31, all face felony charges for traveling to a hotel to meet the "minor" to have sex.

Chronister said one way to deter human trafficking is to go after those who pay traffickers to have sex with women and children, ensuring that the traffickers don't profit from the crime.

"All of these men have one thing in common: they did not care if the women they were going to have sex with were being exploited, forced to sell their bodies against their will," Chronister said.

Even before the Super Bowl, Tampa was ranked 12th in the country for the number of calls made to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at (1 (888) 373-7888). Florida has the third highest rate of human trafficking cases reported in the country, according to the FBI.

"While the Super Bowl has come and gone, our fight against human trafficking is far from over," said Chronister. "We will remain vigilant to rescue individuals from the cruel and miserable underworld of human trafficking and pursue those who propagate this despicable practice."

In 2019, 8,248 cases of sex trafficking were reported in Florida. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, however, said the real number of sex trafficking victims is much higher. The crime is underreported because sex traffickers use addiction to drugs, threats of harm and physical captivity to prevent victims from reaching out for help.

"The reality is no one willingly chooses to enter the world of sexual exploitation," Chronister said. "We have found that in many cases these individuals suffer from some type of victimization of rape or suffer from some type of substance abuse."

"Human trafficking is a scourge on society and fighting to end it in Florida has been one of my top priorities since taking office," said Moody.

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