Operation Cooked: Undercover Osceola Sting Nets At Least 20 Arrests of Men Accused of Seeking Sex With Children

Nine law enforcement agencies arrested 20 men during a four-day undercover operation in Osceola County in early September, accusing them of arranging to meet children for sex, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, speaking at a press conference at the sheriff's office in Kissimmee, announced the sting, called "Operation Cooked," and put the total number of arrests at 21.

The operation ran from Sept. 2 through Sept. 5, 2026, according to the sheriff's office. Undercover detectives posed online as 13- and 14-year-old children, and in some cases as parents offering their children, investigators said. The men, ages 22 to 64, are accused of traveling to arranged meeting spots in the Kissimmee area, where tactical teams arrested them. The Office of Statewide Prosecution, which is part of the attorney general's office, is prosecuting the cases.

The allegations have not been proven in court, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless found guilty.

How the sting worked

According to the sheriff's office and reports on Thursday's announcement, detectives created profiles on various websites and apps and posed as minors. The men who responded were told the ages of the children they believed they were talking to, investigators said. Some of the conversations involved detectives posing as parents who were offering access to their children.

When the men allegedly arrived at the agreed meeting locations expecting sexual contact with a child, officers were waiting. Fox 35 described the operation as a five-day effort, while the sheriff's office dates it to Sept. 2 through Sept. 5. Some reports give a start date of Sept. 3.

Twenty of the men were charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex, a second-degree felony under Florida law that carries up to 15 years in prison, according to reports on the announcement. In past stings of this kind in Florida, defendants have also faced charges such as unlawful use of a two-way communication device and transmitting harmful material to a minor.

Who was arrested

The sheriff's office said five of the men have young children and three were visiting the area on vacation. Kissimmee sits along the tourist corridor near Walt Disney World, and vacation rentals are a major part of the local economy.

Four of the men are in the United States unlawfully, the sheriff's office said, and reports from the announcement listed their home countries as Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico and Ecuador. The Venezuelan national was already under a removal order, according to The Floridian. WFTV initially reported that five suspects were in the country unlawfully, then corrected its story after the sheriff's office clarified that one of them is a U.S. citizen.

The sheriff's office released the names of the men it arrested. The Florida Press is not naming them at this stage of the cases.

What officials said

Osceola County Sheriff Christopher Blackmon said, "These 20 individuals believed a screen granted them anonymity to target children."

Uthmeier, who has made child exploitation stings a regular feature of his tenure, said, "In Florida, there will be no mercy for the merciless." He added that anyone who tries to prey on children in the state will be found, arrested and put behind bars, according to reports from the event.

Lt. Gov. Jay Collins also spoke, saying the arrests send a clear message that predators will be found and held accountable, Fox 35 reported. Officials urged parents to pay close attention to what their children do online and who they talk to.

The difference between the sheriff's count of 20 and the attorney general's count of 21 was not explained in the materials available Thursday. In the March operation in Osceola County, the attorney general's office counted one man who was arrested for explicit online conversations without traveling to a meeting, alongside those accused of traveling.

The agencies involved

The operation brought together local, state and federal investigators. WFTV, citing the sheriff's office, listed the participating agencies:

• Osceola County Sheriff's Office
• Office of Statewide Prosecution
• Orlando Police Department
• Orange County Sheriff's Office
• Polk County Sheriff's Office
• Columbia County Sheriff's Office
• St. Cloud Police Department
• Lake City Police Department
• Homeland Security Investigations

The Osceola County Sheriff's Office hosts the Central Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, part of a national network of federally supported task forces that investigate online child exploitation. Federal award records list a fiscal year 2024 Justice Department grant of $561,018 to the sheriff's office for that task force work.

Second Osceola sting of 2026

Operation Cooked is the second large undercover child exploitation operation announced at the Osceola County Sheriff's Office in 2026. On April 1, Uthmeier announced 16 arrests from a sting that ran March 18 through March 21. In that operation, detectives posed as 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds on chat rooms and escort websites, according to the attorney general's office. Fifteen men were arrested for traveling to meet who they believed were children, and a 16th was arrested for explicit communications. Uthmeier called it the most successful Internet Crimes Against Children operation in Osceola County history at the time.

That earlier operation was led by the Office of Statewide Prosecution and the sheriff's office with Homeland Security Investigations and the Lake City, Orlando and St. Cloud police departments, several of the same agencies that took part in September.

In the summer, the attorney general's office announced six arrests in a North Florida operation it called Operation Summer Hurricane. The September operation's 20 arrests, by the sheriff's count, surpass the March total.

The sheriff's office itself has been under new leadership since June 2025, when Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended then-Sheriff Marcos Lopez after Lopez was charged in a state racketeering case tied to an alleged illegal gambling operation, and appointed Blackmon to lead the agency.

What's next

The cases will proceed in state court, with the Office of Statewide Prosecution handling them. Each defendant is entitled to an attorney and a trial, and some may seek plea agreements.

Parents and caregivers can report suspected online exploitation of a child to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline or to local law enforcement.