A Volusia County school bus driver got into his car and drove to meet a 14-year-old girl.
He was not the only one.
Thirty-three men were arrested across Florida in a single week – and what investigators found when they showed up will make your blood run cold.
Disney Employee and School Bus Driver Among 16 Arrested in Florida Child Predator Sting
Two operations ran simultaneously last week – and together they show how many predators are hiding in plain sight.
In Central Florida, Attorney General James Uthmeier announced 16 arrests following a four-day undercover sting that ran March 18–21.
Investigators posed as children aged 13, 14, and 15 in online chatrooms and escort websites.
Every suspect kept talking after being told they were communicating with a minor.
Fifteen of them physically drove to a location expecting to have sex with a child.
What they found instead was handcuffs.
Michael Cornell – a school bus driver in Volusia County – was arrested for traveling to meet who he believed was a 14-year-old girl.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2039402162456015271?s=20
Sroas Tes was a Disney employee. Also arrested.
Sheldon Lee left four young children alone in a hotel room, went to a strip club, and then drove to meet his "victim."
Naman Kanthwal – in the United States on a green card from India – was arrested while on his way to meet a girl he believed was 14 years old.
Jason Nguyen, who works for a nonprofit ministry group, asked the undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old girl to call him "Daddy."
These are not monsters hiding in the woods.
They are the people already in your community – driving your children's school buses, working at their favorite theme parks, leading their youth groups.
Florida AG Uthmeier Has Now Arrested 1400 Child Predators Since Taking Office
While Central Florida was running the sting, FDLE and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office were conducting Operation Running Wild – a four-day compliance sweep targeting registered sex offenders already in the system.
Investigators made contact with 264 registered offenders and predators, verifying addresses, employment, vehicles, and online identifiers in person.
Seventeen were arrested for failing to meet Florida's registration requirements. Four of them were designated sexual predators – the state's highest-risk classification.
Eight additional individuals had simply vanished from their registered addresses.
These are men the state already knew about. Men required by law to report their whereabouts.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2039029567596138786?s=20
Men who chose not to – living unmonitored in neighborhoods, unknown to the families nearby.
Since AG Uthmeier took office in February 2025, Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution has been linked to the takedown of over 1,400 child predators and participated in more than 1,500 child exploitation investigations.
The state is running these operations almost every week.
Uthmeier is also going after the platforms enabling the predators.
Florida is suing Snapchat for deceiving parents about platform risks.
The Attorney General has subpoenaed Discord – giving the company until April 9 to hand over internal moderation records, complaint logs, and age-verification data.
https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/2039700628637692394?s=20
Governor DeSantis already signed legislation banning children under 14 from social media accounts entirely.
Florida is not just arresting predators.
It is dismantling the pipeline they use to find children.
Osceola County Sheriff Christopher Blackmon put it plainly: "If you target kids, you are not safe. We will find you; we will arrest you and we will make sure you face the full weight of justice. You will be hunted, not the hunter."
The 16 suspects from the Central Florida sting face a combined 400 years in the Florida Department of Corrections.
That school bus is running a different route now.
Sources:
- Florida Attorney General Office, "Attorney General James Uthmeier Announces 16 Arrests in Child Exploitation Sting," myfloridalegal.com, April 1, 2026.
- Skyler Shepard, "17 arrested during 'Operation: Running Wild' sex offender compliance sweep: FDLE," CBS12, April 3, 2026.
- FOX 51 Gainesville, "16 accused child predators arrested in Osceola County Sheriff's Office sting," wogx.com, April 1, 2026.
- Fox 35 Orlando, "Predator Takedown: Florida AG James Uthmeier Announces 1,400 Arrests of Child Exploitation on Social Media," fox35orlando.com, March 9, 2026.
- Tampa Free Press, "Predators Hunted: 16 Arrested in Massive Central Florida Undercover Sting," tampafp.com, April 4, 2026.
