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| Sixteen people including nurse Edgardo Acevedo Cancela (left) and Disney employee Justin Hazan (right), 32, who worked on the Millennium Falcon ride at Disneyland in Florida have been arrested in an online child abuse sting |
- Operation Guardians of Innocence V' carried out by Polk County Sheriff's Office
- Nurse Edgardo Acevedo Cancela charged with five counts of possession of child pornography
- Justin Hazan, 32, worked at Walt Disney World as as an operator on the Millennium Falcon attraction
- His roommate, Arlandres Sims, worked as a food runner at Disney's Animal Kingdom Resort
Sixteen people including a nurse and two Disney employees have been arrested in an online child abuse sting in Florida.
The 'Operation Guardians of Innocence V' was carried out by Polk County Sheriff's Office, who tracked the pedophile ring.
They had been distributing the abuse of infants as young as six months.
Edgardo Acevedo Cancela, a nurse and married father-of-two, denied downloading and viewing child sexual abuse but he was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of promotion.
Justin Hazan, 32, worked at Walt Disney World as as an operator on the Millennium Falcon attraction.
His roommate, Arlandres Sims, worked as a food runner at Disney's Animal Kingdom Resort.
Both men admitted to downloading and possessing child pornography which involved four and five-year-old victims.
Hazan was charged with 15 counts of possession of child pornography and Sims was charged with the possession of 15 counts.
In total, 1,409 felonies were filed against the suspects, Polk County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. More charges are pending.
'These images are not just pictures of children without clothes,' said Sheriff Grady Judd in a statement.
'These videos and photographs are horrific images of children being forced to expose their genitalia and forced to perform sex acts – images of children being raped.
'Those who upload and share child pornography are victimizing children over and over again,' he continued.
'Those arrested in this operation create the demand that sustains a child pornographic exploitation distribution pipeline that traumatizes children across the world. Their behavior is disgusting.'
A fourth suspect, Stephen Lily, 61, was arrested and initially said his account had been 'hacked'.
He later admitted that he had been downloading and viewing child pornography for the past two years.
Among files on his computer were those depicting children being abused who were aged just 12 months old. He was charged with 100 counts of possession of child pornography.
Another suspect, Monty Cottengain, 64, eventually admitted to trading images via Facebook messenger for the past 2-3 years.
He was charged with 20 counts of possession of child pornography.
Suspect Landen Ulrich, aged just 18, lives with his parents and younger siblings.
He was charged with 200 counts of possession of child pornography.