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POLK COUNTY

Disney worker, teachers among 160 arrested in Polk County human trafficking investigation: sheriff

by: Nathaniel Rodriguez

Posted: Sep 9, 2022 / 09:23 AM EDT

Updated: Sep 9, 2022 / 06:49 PM EDT

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (WFLA) — The Polk County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies arrested 160 people in a seven-day operation focused human trafficking in its area.

Deputies said the arrests from “Fall Haul 2” included school teachers, a state corrections officer, and a Disney employee. Twenty-six of those charged were said to be married men, and 15 of the arrests involved people from outside of Florida.

One of these out-of-state arrests included a deputy police chief from Georgia, Jason DiPrima, who allegedly tried to hire an undercover detective pretending to be a prostitute with $180 and a pack of White Claw. During a Friday press conference, Sheriff Grady Judd said DiPrima has since resigned from his position and condemned him for embarrassing the Cartersville Police Department and his family.

“He did a mean, nasty thing to his family,” Judd said.

DiPrima wasn’t the only government employee to be arrested. A corrections officer with Lake Correctional Institution, 24-year-old Keith Nieves of Orlandom was also arrested after trying to have sex with a prostitute who turned out to be an undercover detective, according to the sheriff’s office.

“He’s in the jail as a jail bird like the jail bird he watches,” the sheriff said.

Another suspect, 43-year-old Cameron Burke of Ocoee, was already out on bond after being accused of having sex with a 15-year-old student at Oak Ridge High School in Orange County. He worked at the high school as a computer technician at the time of the alleged crime.

Judd said when deputies took Burke into custody during their sting, he become very emotional and said he was already out on criminal charges.

“Dude, why didn’t you think of that ahead of time?” the sheriff said. “Of course, you only have three brain cells.”

Meanwhile, two currently employed teachers were also caught by deputies trying to engage in sex acts with a prostitute.

The sheriff’s office said Carlos Gonzalez, 36, of Davenport was a Math teacher at New Dimensions High School in Osceola County. According to Judd, Gonzalez said he was just going to give the two prostitutes money and leave without having sex, but he was arrested anyway.

The other teacher was John Layton, 26, of Gotha, who worked as a physical education teacher at West Orange High School in Orange County. The sheriff’s office said he was caught after trying to pay an undercover $40 for a sex act.

Judd said during the arrest, Layton asked how long it would take because he had track practice in the morning.

“No, the students have track practice in the morning; you have jail practice in the morning,” the sheriff said.

And as Judd said, it wouldn’t be an undercover operation without at least one Disney employee being arrested as well.

Disney bellhop Guillermo Perez, 57, of Winter Garden was arrested after trying to have sex with an undercover detective for $80, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office also arrested Samy Claude, 26, of Orlando, who works as a photographer and was often contracted by Disney. Deputies said Claude brought a bag of sour Skittles for the undercover detective.

While the sheriff emphasized the clients of prostitution, he also spoke on the suffering that the victims of human trafficking who are used as sex workers.

The sheriff’s office said it encountered two human trafficking victims in its investigation, along with five other possible victims. Judd said there could be more among the people who were arrested for prostitution, but they must come forward.

One of the victims deputies encountered was a woman who was 10 weeks pregnant and was given drugs and fentanyl in hopes to abort her unborn child, who she did not want.

While she was in custody, the victim got a text message telling her to leave her rendezvous soon because of Polk County’s reputation, according to Judd.

One More Child, Heartland for Children, My Name My Voice, and the Children’s Home Society of Florida worked with the sheriff’s office to provide support for victims.

“From the moment they come into the operation, we want to immediately hand them off to our social service friends and our counselors so they can begin working with these victims of human trafficking,” Judd said.

The sheriff said these victims are some of the most difficult to work with. However, should a person arrested for prostitution come forward as a victim of human trafficking, Florida law allows law enforcement to wipe their arrest from public record….

https://www.wfla.com/news/polk-county/disney-worker-teachers-among-160-arrested-in-polk-county-human-trafficking-investigation-sheriff/

Justice Gorsuch Shares Update on SCOTUS Leak Investigation

September 9, 2022

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/09/09/justice-gorsuch-shares-update-on-scotus-leak-investigation-n2612878

While speaking on a panel during a judicial conference in Colorado, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch reiterated again that the Court's investigation into the leak of a draft opinion earlier this year was continuing.

"The chief justice appointed an internal committee to oversee the investigation," Gorsuch noted on Thursday, adding the committee has "been busy" in the months following the unprecedented leak that stunned Court watchers and breached the longstanding trust within the Supreme Court.

"We’re looking forward to their report, I hope soon," Gorsuch added, though he didn't say whether the investigation's findings about who leaked the draft or how it ended up published by POLITICO would be released to the public.

The Trump-nominated Gorsuch reiterated his colleagues' earlier condemnations of the leak, saying "improper efforts to influence judicial decision making, from whatever side, are a threat” to the Court's important work. “They inhibit our capacity to communicate with one another” over fears of those conversations or legal reasoning being revealed prematurely, he added. The discussion between justices — as was the case between late Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia — “improves our final products,” Gorsuch explained. “I very much hope we get to the bottom of this sooner or later.”

It seems, though, that "later" will be the reality. It's already been months since the leak occurred. The few signs of progress along the way — Supreme Court clerks being asked to sign affidavits and turn over their cell phones to investigators — have so far only resulted in statements that the pool of potential suspects has been "narrowed."

We still don't know how "narrow" that pool of potential leak sources is, and it's unclear if the suspects are still even employed by the Supreme Court — most clerks' tenure at the Court would have come to an end just after the final opinions were issued this summer.

As The Wall Street Journal added:

Chief Justice John Roberts announced in May that the Supreme Court marshal would lead an investigation to find the source of the leak. But since then the court has been closelipped about the inquiry, providing no public updates. Little has emerged, apart from a demand from court investigators that justices’ law clerks sit for interviews and surrender their cellphones, a June development that prompted several of the clerks to seek legal counsel

[…]

While the Dobbs decision sharply divided the court—and unleashed a new, post-Roe era in the politics of abortion—Justice Gorsuch Thursday said “there’s so much more that unites us than divides us.” He noted, for instance, his partnership with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a Dobbs dissenter, to promote civics education.

There's still a chance that the identity of the leaker is never made public by the Court, and it may be more likely that the leaker comes forward in due time as part of some public messaging campaign to try and become a hero to the leftist activists and Democrat politicians who used the leak to justify their illegal intimidation efforts against justices at their homes.

Zuckerberg Is Losing: Major Companies Remove Facebook Login Option Over Privacy Concerns

By ProTrumpNews Staff

Published September 10, 2022 at 8:45am

s Facebook dying?

Dell, Twitch, Best Buy, Ford Motor, Pottery Barn, Nike, Patagonia, and Match no longer allow users to sign in with Facebook.

People can still sign in with Google, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

Jen Felch, Dell’s chief digital and chief information officer cited privacy concerns as the reason for the removal.

CNBC reported:

Until about a month ago, shoppers on Dell’s website looking for a new laptop could log in using their Facebook credentials to avoid creating a new username and password. That option is now gone.

Dell isn’t alone. Other big brands, including Best Buy, Ford Motor, Pottery Barn, Nike, Patagonia, Match and Amazon’s video-streaming service Twitch have removed the ability to sign on with Facebook. It’s a marked departure from just a few years ago, when the Facebook login was plastered all over the internet, often alongside buttons that let you sign in with Google, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Jen Felch, Dell’s chief digital and chief information officer, said people stopped using social logins, for reasons that include concerns over security, privacy and data-sharing.

Facebook did not comment on the story to CNBC.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/09/major-companies-remove-facebook-login-option-privacy-concerns/

FBI Hiding Potentially Explosive Records On Jeffrey Epstein, Internet Sleuth Claims After FOIA Denial

By Greg Wilson

Sep 10, 2022 DailyWire.com

A well-followed internet sleuth believes he has uncovered evidence that the FBI could be sitting on potentially explosive secret records involving dead sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The anonymous Techno Fog, an self-described lawyer and writer who has nearly 400,000 followers on Twitter and also writes a popular Substack column, says a recent response to a Freedom of Information Act request indicates the beleaguered bureau may be hiding something. Techno Fog sought all records relating to any interviews the FBI had done with Epstein.

“The records responsive to your request are law enforcement records; there is a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding relevant to these responsive records, and release of the information could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,” was the answer he said he received, which he posted online.

Epstein, the mysterious creep who kept a bevy of underage girls at his Caribbean island compound, who was known to socialize with powerful leaders and luminaries including former President Bill Clinton, died under mysterious circumstances in 2019 while being held at the Manhattan Correctional Center on sex trafficking charges. Officials ruled his death a suicide at the time.

The FBI has acknowledged through prior records releases that Epstein had been an informant.

“Epstein has also provided information to the FBI as agreed upon,” read a note in a document the bureau released through its information “vault” in 2018. That cooperation likely referenced the financier’s help with an investigation into defunct investment bank Bear Stearns, where he once worked.

In his latest Substack column, Techno Fog says he made the FOIA request because he suspects Epstein and the FBI worked together on other occasions. He wrote that the bureau’s denial of his request is a tacit admission that the bureau indeed has other records, and he cast doubt on the idea they were being protected as part of an ongoing probe.

“It’s more likely that the Epstein records might embarrass the FBI,” Technofog wrote. “The DOJ and FBI have been known to abuse the FOIA law enforcement exemption to hide investigative materials from public release. We’ve seen them do it. And they’re doing it again.”

In the wake of Epstein’s death, only his longtime consort, Ghislaine Maxwell, who procured girls for him, has been charged with any crimes related to his operation. She was convicted of child sex trafficking last year and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. But no one who partook in the bacchanals on Epstein’s private jet and island pleasure dome has been named by law enforcement or brought to justice.

“We’re exceedingly doubtful that the release of the Epstein records would ‘interfere with enforcement proceedings,'” Technofog write. “Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted and Epstein is dead. The only potential tie might be from a grand jury investigation into ‘other possible co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein.’ But that was from the summer of 2020 and we rightly assume no charges were brought against whoever was being investigated.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-hiding-potentially-explosive-records-on-jeffrey-epstein-internet-sleuth-claims-after-foia-denial

Rep. Katie Porter’s university housing deal draws scrutiny

Her housing situation with UC Irvine does not violate U.S. House ethics rules

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS |

PUBLISHED: September 8, 2022 at 12:57 p.m. | UPDATED: September 9, 2022 at 6:21 a.m

In Orange County, where the typical house sells for $1 million, Rep. Katie Porter’s four-bedroom, three-bath residence in a leafy subdivision on the UC Irvine campus is a bargain.

The progressive Democrat and law professor, who has lamented the cost of housing in her district, purchased it in 2011 for $523,000, secured through a program the university uses to lure academics who couldn’t otherwise afford to live in the affluent area. The median price for a home that summer was $445,000. The only eligibility requirement was that she continue working for the school.

For Porter, this version of subsidized housing has outlasted her time in the classroom, now extending nearly four years after she first took unpaid leave from her $258,000-a-year teaching job to serve in the U.S. House.

But the ties go deeper, with at least one law school administrator, who was also a donor to her campaign, helping secure extensions of her tenure while she remained in Congress, according to university emails obtained by The Associated Press.

That has allowed Porter, a rising Democratic star and fundraising powerhouse whose own net worth is valued at as much as $2 million, to retain her home even as her return to the school remains in doubt.

Porter’s housing situation does not violate U.S. House ethics rules. But it cuts against the profile she has sought to cultivate in Washington as an ardent critic of a political system that allows “the wealthy and well-connected” to “live in one reality while the rest of us live in another,” as she wrote in an online fundraising solicitation in 2020.

It also coincides with a growth in interest in the school’s housing program, which has resulted in a yearslong waitlist of more than 250 school academics and administrators, as a nationwide housing shortage sends prices for homes outside the on-campus development skyrocketing, university figures from 2021 show.

Whether voters care will be tested in November when Porter, who has amassed a $19.8 million campaign fund, seeks a third term to the once reliably Republican district that has become more competitive in recent years.

“It sounds like the sort of insider deal that really makes people mad at Congress,” said Bradley A. Smith, a professor at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, and a Republican former member of the Federal Election Commission was appointed by Bill Clinton.

In an interview, Porter declined to say whether her housing arrangement was appropriate. But she said she “followed the applicable (University of California) policies, as well as all applicable state and federal law.”

“I am always happy to be transparent with voters,” Porter said. “I take a lot of pride in my record on transparency and good governance and have been asked about this before by voters and have always been happy to give them full and complete information.”

Smith said the arrangement could run afoul of an FEC prohibition on third parties paying the living expenses of federal candidates. He cautioned, however, that the situation was nuanced and unique.

“Let’s suppose they were paying her mortgage? I think that would pretty clearly be a problem,” Smith said. “Here, it is a little different than that. They are just letting her keep a deal that she had previously. But it does seem to subsidize her income. If I were still serving on the commission and that complaint came in, I’d be very interested in seeing her response.”

Porter said Smith’s analysis “is interesting to think about” and his question about whether the prohibition could apply to her situation “is exactly right.” But she added,“ I don’t think he necessarily has all of the facts about how the housing is structured to be able to definitively answer that question,” citing her payment of property taxes, as well as homeownership fees and other expenses.

Smith responded that he is “not sure how the fact that she paid those fees changes anything.”

For decades, the cost of housing in Orange County has soared above the national average. UC Irvine’s solution was to build University Hills, their own exclusive academic community, where home values are capped to make them more affordable and favorable mortgage rates are offered to those approved to live there.

(cont…)

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/09/08/rep-katie-porters-university-housing-deal-draws-scrutiny/

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For decades, the cost of housing in Orange County has soared above the national average. UC Irvine’s solution was to build University Hills, their own exclusive academic community, where home values are capped to make them more affordable and favorable mortgage rates are offered to those approved to live there.

The pent-up demand to live in University Hills is understandable in light of Irvine’s $1.3 million median home price. Houses in the school’s subdivision have sold in recent years for about half of their regular market value, according to University of California figures from 2021. The community is a short drive from the Pacific Ocean and Laguna Beach. And the list of amenities includes a network of parks, walking paths, scenic vistas and community pools. It also feeds into some of the most sought-after schools in the area.

But for academics and administrators, the trade-off is that they are required to work full-time for the university, with an exception built in for retirees. For those no longer employed by the school, however, an enforcement provision kicks in, which in Porter’s case would require her to pay off her mortgage within months.

When Porter was recruited, school officials outlined their expectations in a letter informing her that they would sponsor her application to the housing program.

“Your primary duties, of course, will be to serve as a professor of law,” school officials wrote in the letter, which Porter signed in December 2010. “It is expected that you will teach two classes … you will be expected to hold office hours and be available to mentor students.”

Eight years later, after her 2018 election, Porter ceased to fulfill those obligations.

Initially, administrators signed off on two separate one-year periods of leave that enabled her to keep her house, documents show. But school officials voiced more concern about the arrangement in the run-up to Porter’s 2020 reelection, emails show.

“Is there any fixed limit on the number of years of leave without pay … One of our administrators mentioned that they seemed to recall a two-year limit,” law school Vice Dean Chris Whytock wrote in an April 2020 email. He added: “Some government service may, of course, last for a number of years.”

Whytock, who donated $500 to Porter’s campaign in 2018, wrote a memo outlining the case for extending Porter’s leave while suggesting that there are no limits on how long such an arrangement could continue. The plan required the approval of the school’s vice provost, which was granted in 2020, according to the emails.

(cont…)

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/09/08/rep-katie-porters-university-housing-deal-draws-scrutiny/

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(cont…)

Whytock did not respond to an email seeking comment.

In a statement, UC Irvine spokesperson Tom Vasich said faculty “on approved leaves without pay remain UCI employees, and they can maintain their home in University Hills.”

Porter said she intends to win her election, but would resume teaching if she lost. She declined to say whether she would look for housing elsewhere if she won.

After the AP interviewed Porter, spokesperson Jordan Wong provided an additional comment, stating the congresswoman “had no knowledge of Vice Dean Chris Whytock’s role in researching her request for leave” and “at no point” was in contact with him about it.

Still, longtime government ethics watchdogs in Washington, including those with favorable opinions of the congresswoman, say it’s difficult squaring Porter’s housing situation with her crusading rhetoric.

“She has a reputation for being highly ethical and requiring others to live up to that standard,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the Washington-based government watchdog group Public Citizen. “Let’s hope she is not running short of her own ethics with the university.”

(end)

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/09/08/rep-katie-porters-university-housing-deal-draws-scrutiny/