Principal among 18 arrested in Florida sex trafficking sting

A Florida elementary school principal was among more than a dozen people arrested in a recent sex trafficking sting, which also saw two teen girls rescued.

Derrick McLaughlin, a principal at Dawson Elementary school, was arrested alongside 17 others suspects from all over the Tampa Bay area. The roundup also included Robin Varghese, who is known to be affiliated with his father’s church, Bethel of Brandon Pentecostal Church.

“These suspects came from all walks of life,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement.

“No matter what these suspects did for a living, they sought to take advantage of a young person in our area, which is unacceptable. We are thankful that these men encountered our detectives online instead of a real child.”

The arrests come after a three-month investigation, called “Operation Wanderlust.”

Throughout the probe, which kicked off in November 2021, all of the suspects at one point started communicating with undercover investigators, each of them posing as minors online. They allegedly requested the undercover agents perform sex acts and would send them inappropriate pictures.

Half of those arrested had traveled to Hillsborough County, which includes the Tampa area, to meet them for sex, according to authorities. One suspect drove as far as Boca Raton to meet up with an alleged minor.

Eduardo Antonio Iglesias Amaya was twice arrested over the course of the sting. He’s facing 18 counts of child porn after a search warrant led investigators to uncover disturbing material on his phone.

Arthur Vos has been accused of grooming a 15-year-old girl for participating in his rape and BDSM fantasies. He mostly contacted her by phone, and their communications were later discovered by her father, who immediately turned it over to authorities.

Another 15-year-old girl, with a “history of falling prey to commercial sex trafficking,” was also rescued amid the operation, police said.

“The HCSO Human Trafficking Squad works diligently to save our children from becoming victims to sexual predators that use technology to hunt in the shadows of the internet,” Chronister added.

“Through operations like Wanderlust, we are constantly taking a proactive approach to finding these predators, and our efforts will not stop.”