Grady Judd has been sheriff of Polk County for over two decades.
He called this the most horrific crime his county has seen in a very long time.
And when you hear where detectives found the suspect, you'll understand why he said what he did next.
Still in the Shower Next Door
A 77-year-old Mulberry, Florida, woman woke up at 4 a.m. to a noise.
By the time it was over, she had been sexually battered, slapped, chased through her own home, dragged back inside, and choked by a stranger who had broken in while she slept.
The suspect – 24-year-old Axel Antonio Espinal Herrera, a Honduran national in the country illegally – walked to a nearby house and got in the shower.
Detectives found him there.
Still in the shower.
https://twitter.com/unownz2pd/status/2097740006408564803?s=20
The victim's scratches were on his body.
Her description matched his clothing.
Cocaine was found in the home during the search.
Sheriff Judd didn't hold back: "He was a young man, 24 years of age, sexually battering a 77-year-old woman after he broke into her house in the middle of the night. Do I need to say more?"
No, Sheriff.
You don't.
Herrera is facing kidnapping, sexual battery by force, burglary with battery, tampering with evidence, cocaine possession and more.
Florida law elevates each charge by one degree when the suspect is in the country illegally – meaning Herrera is looking at the possibility of multiple life sentences.
ICE placed a detainer on him and on both of his Honduran housemates.
This Is Not the First Time Grady Judd Has Said This Exact Thing
This is where it gets worse.
Judd has stood at that podium before.
He stood there when a different illegal immigrant broke into a Polk County home, got into bed with a woman, choked her nearly to unconsciousness and screamed he would kill her if she didn't stop fighting.
He stood there during a human trafficking bust when 21 illegal immigrants were arrested – including women from Cuba forced into the sex trade by smugglers collecting on their debt.
He has been saying the same thing for years – that this couldn't have occurred if the suspect was not in this country.
And it isn't just Polk County.
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/2097060645900288016?s=20
In New York City in 2020, an illegal immigrant from Guyana – who ICE had already flagged and the NYPD released anyway under sanctuary city policy – attacked 92-year-old Maria Fuertes as she walked home alone at midnight, leaving her in the cold for two hours before anyone found her.
She died from her injuries.
In Portland, Oregon, a man deported 20 times broke into a 65-year-old woman's home, sexually assaulted her, and threatened to kill her.
The local sanctuary county had repeatedly refused ICE detainers on him.
Same story.
Different city.
Every single time.
Florida Has an Answer That New York Refuses to Use
Florida doesn't have sanctuary cities shielding people like Herrera from federal agents.
Florida law punishes illegal immigrants who commit crimes more harshly – by design – because the legislature understood that someone with no legal right to be here who chooses to attack a sleeping 77-year-old woman has forfeited any claim to leniency.
And Florida has Grady Judd.
Judd was on Trump's side of this fight before Trump made it politically safe.
He traveled to the border with DeSantis, stood in front of cameras in Arizona, and told every honest cop in America what they already knew: every county in this country is a border county now.
https://twitter.com/PolkCoSheriff/status/2095263747841446238?s=20
He was right then.
He's right now.
The open border Biden spent four years defending put a 24-year-old Honduran rapist in a bedroom in Mulberry, Florida, at 4 in the morning – and put a 77-year-old woman through something no American should ever have to survive.
Trump's deportation enforcement exists precisely to make sure men like Herrera never walk free to do this again.
The question is how many more women get hurt in states that keep refusing to cooperate before they figure out what Grady Judd has known for years.
Sources:
- Peter Pinedo, "Illegal immigrant's 'over-the-top' sexual assault on elderly woman sends sheriff into rage," Fox News, September 1, 2026.
- Polk County Sheriff's Office, arrest report and press statement, Axel Antonio Espinal Herrera, August 31, 2026.
- "Illegal Immigrant In NYC Rapes and Murders Elderly Woman After Being Released," Law Officer, January 2020.
- "Man Deported 20 Times Before Sexually Assaulting Elderly Woman," Law and Crime, 2017.
- "Sanctuary City Frees Illegal Immigrant Rape Suspect Against ICE Demands," Daily Wire, 2024.
