Southeast
Florida law enforcement makes record number of arrests during human trafficking operation
Florida law enforcement officials arrested 148 people and recovered seven victims during a human trafficking sting called “Operation Summer Shield.”
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said during a press conference Tuesday the goal of the operation was to prevent children from becoming victims of human trafficking during the summer, when they’re out of school and spending more time on the internet.
He said his office wanted to be proactive to ensure the children did not fall victim to human trafficking.
“From April 29, the 102 days during summer until Friday before school started, we really ramped up our efforts to combat human trafficking to assure that no child fell victim to human trafficking operations,” Chronister said.
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During the first day of the operation, the sheriff’s office said, several records were broken.
“That day, they broke a record for the number of individuals wanting to purchase sex on a single day,” Chronister said. “That was until the second day, when they smashed that record almost an hour before the operation started.”
The operation resulted in 148 arrests for various crimes, with 11 of the suspects being charged with human trafficking.
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Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister announced that 148 people were arrested during “Operation Summer Shield,” a sting targeting human trafficking operations. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
Seven victims were rescued, according to Chronister, two of whom were 17-year-old girls.
Chronister highlighted four of the arrests during the press conference Tuesday, which he said were of the “more egregious offenders.”
One suspect, 33-year-old John Randall Craddock, was arrested after he allegedly sent explicit messages to someone he believed was a 15-year-old girl, but Chronister said the suspect was actually communicating with an undercover detective.
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John Randall Craddock was arrested during the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office’s “Operation Summer Shield.” (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
Devante Kershaw, 28, was arrested during the operation when he, too, allegedly communicated with an undercover detective.
“After attempting to groom our undercover detective for nearly a month, it was time to meet,” Chronister said. “Kershaw was so confident that he met with our undercover detective for more than an hour, and our human trafficking squad closed the deal with a solid arrest and a RICO charge, amongst others.”
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Devante Kershaw, 28, was arrested during “Operation Summer Shield” in Hillsborough County, Fla. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
Deputies arrested 39-year-old Dontae Burton, who allegedly forced a 17-year-old girl to have sex for money. Chronister said Burton would post explicit photos of the victim on adult escort websites, set up dates and collect the money she brought in.
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Dontae Burton was arrested during the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office’s “Operation Summer Shield.” (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
The 17-year-old girl, Chronister added, was living at home with her mother, who did not know what was happening.
“This sick scheme went on for about three months until we received a tip, and our human trafficking squad quickly went to work. A federal arrest warrant was issued, and Burton was taken into custody,” the sheriff said.
The fourth suspect Chronister highlighted was 35-year-old Dennis Jose Aguilar-Maroto, who allegedly met his victim when she was just 16 years old at a neighborhood park.
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Dennis Aguilar-Maroto was arrested during the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office’s “Operation Summer Shield.” (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
Aguilar-Maroto allegedly groomed the teenager for months before paying her between $40 and $60 for sex acts when she turned 18, authorities said. The sheriff added that the suspect paid the 17-year-old at least four times.
“It was not until our deputies encountered the two at an abandoned restaurant in Brandon that Aguilar-Maroto’s criminal behavior ended,” Chronister said. “While on proactive patrol, deputies found the two in the back seat of a small SUV where they had sex in exchange for money, and Aguilar-Maroto was immediately arrested.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the sheriff’s office for further comment.
Chronister posted to social media that his office’s mission was clear — “to protect our community and hold traffickers accountable.”
“We will not rest until every victim is safe and every trafficker is behind bars,” the sheriff said. “Let me be clear: Traffickers, your days of exploiting innocent people are over in Hillsborough County.”
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Southeast
Florida boater accused of killing teen in crash avoids jail time with plea deal
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A man who failed to stop his boat after fatally striking a 15-year-old high school student and ballerina in 2024 has pleaded guilty in the deadly boating incident.
The man’s attorneys had previously noted that he did not realize he had hit someone with his vessel, according to WTVJ.
Ella Adler, the granddaughter of then-U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Michael Adler, had been wakeboarding and had fallen into the water, according to the Key Biscayne Independent, which noted that boater Carlos Guillermo “Bill” Alonso fatally hit her in his 42-foot-Boston Whaler.
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Ella Adler, 15, was killed in a hit-and-run boating accident in May 2024. (Courtesy of the Adler Family )
A statement provided to Fox News Digital by Alonso’s attorney, Lauren Field Krasnoff, described the incident as a “tragic accident.”
“Our hearts go out to the Adler family. This was a tragic accident, and, of course, Bill never intended to hurt anyone that day. Bill’s decision to plead guilty was driven by his hope that doing so would cause less pain to Ella’s family and help shine a light on the Ella Riley Adler Foundation,” the statement noted.
Alonso pleaded guilty on Monday to misdemeanor careless boating, according to The Miami Herald.
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Carlos Guillermo Alonso’s attorney, Lauren Field Krasnoff, helps him out of a car in 2024. (WSVN)
The teen killed in the boating incident had performed in “The Nutcracker” over 100 times with the Miami City Ballet, the Key Biscayne Independent noted.
“Ella was extraordinary. She radiated joy, kindness and creativity in every room she entered. She was a devoted daughter, a beloved sister and a fierce and loyal friend,” Adler’s father, Matthew, said in a statement read in court, according to the outlet.
“Her life was filled with love, laughter, dance and meaning. Ella didn’t just live. She danced through life.”
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Carlos Guillermo Alonso exits a vehicle with his attorney. (WSVN)
The outlet reported that Alonso was sentenced to 12 months of probation as part of a plea agreement and that he is able to have his probation terminated after six months. Provided he fulfills the court’s conditions, he will be able to petition the court for his guilty pleas to be vacated, the outlet reported.
Edmund Richard Hartley, the captain of the vessel that had been towing Adler, has also been charged, but he has pleaded not guilty, according to The Miami Herald.
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Southeast
Trump seeks more than $6M from Fani Willis’ office in wake of election interference case
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President Donald Trump is asking the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to reimburse him more than $6.2 million in attorney fees and costs in the wake of the recently dismissed 2020 election interference case she brought against him.
The development comes after Willis was permanently sidelined from prosecuting the case against Trump last September. She had lost an appeal after the Georgia Court of Appeals said Willis and her office could not continue to prosecute the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety” stemming from her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The case was then dismissed in November.
Georgia state legislators last year passed a law that says that if a prosecutor is disqualified from a case because of his or her own improper conduct and the case is then dismissed, anyone charged in that case is entitled to request “all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred” in their defense. The judge overseeing the case then is responsible for reviewing the request and awarding the fees and costs, which are to be paid from the budget of the prosecutor’s office.
“In accordance with Georgia law, President Trump has moved the Court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in his defense of the politically motivated, and now rightfully dismissed, case brought by disqualified DA Fani Willis,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, said in a statement.
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President Donald Trump and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)
A motion filed Wednesday said, “President Trump prays that this Court award attorney fees and costs for the defense of President Trump in the amount of $6,261,613,08.”
Willis’ indictment had accused Trump of pressuring officials to overturn the 2020 vote in Georgia, organizing “fake electors” and harassing election workers.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, and Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail on Aug. 24.
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Special prosecutor Nathan Wade and Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County (Getty Images)
Last month, when another person charged in the case made a similar filing, Willis’ office filed a motion asking to be heard on the matter of any claims for fees and costs filed in the case, according to The Associated Press.
Willis’ motion raised concerns about the law passed last year that allowed Trump and others to seek to have their expenses paid.
“The statute raises grave separation-of-powers concerns by purporting to impose financial liability on a constitutional officer, twice elected by the citizens of Fulton County, for the lawful exercise of her core duties under the Georgia Constitution,” her motion said.
Donald Trump’s booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office after he surrendered on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
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Her motion also added that the law violates due process by “retroactively imposing a novel fee-shifting scheme” that creates a substantial burden for the county’s taxpayers without any recourse.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southeast
After 2 straight losses, Democrat Stacey Abrams sits out 2026 race for Georgia governor
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The third time won’t be the charm for Stacey Abrams, at least in 2026.
The two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia is ruling out another run for governor this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”
Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.
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Stacey Abrams, seen here at Georgia State University on Nov. 7, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, will not run for governor in 2026. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last spring that Abrams was mulling a third straight run for governor in the race to succeed the now-term-limited Kemp.
Abrams grabbed plenty of national attention during the 2018 Georgia race, and came close to making history as the nation’s first Black female elected governor. Her refusal to concede to Kemp after losing by a razor-thin margin boosted her among many Democrats while becoming a top GOP political target.
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She launched the Fair Fight political organization following her defeat, helped Biden narrowly carry Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, and also contributed to the sweep by the Democrats in the Jan. 5, 2021 twin Senate runoff elections.
Abrams raised over $110 million in fundraising for her 2022 rematch with Kemp, but was soundly defeated by the Republican incumbent.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, seen speaking with Fox News Digital during his 2022 re-election campaign, is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
In recent years, the political machine Abrams built has faded. The Abrams-founded New Georgia Project folded last year after being fined $300,000 for illegally backing her 2018 campaign.
And while Abrams last year considered a 2026 gubernatorial run, other Democratic candidates jumped into the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement during former President Joe Biden’s administration, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
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Also running for the Democratic nomination is former Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was elected in 2018 but declined to seek re-election in 2022. The former Republican is now a moderate Democrat. Former state Rep. Ruwa Romman and former Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond are also in the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is running for the 2026 Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia. (Getty Images)
In the race for the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has the backing of President Donald Trump.
The field also includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The Cook Report, a leading non-partisan political handicapper, rates the race a toss-up, while Inside Elections rates it as tilt Republican and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it as lean Republican.
Abrams, in her statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said she’ll keep her focus on the fight to protect democracy.
“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” she wrote.”But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”
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