Grady Judd: Over 100 suspects arrested, 57 guns seized during violent gang investigation

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Nearly 150 people have been arrested, and 57 guns have been taken off Polk County streets because of the Violent Gang Investigative Task Force.

The VGITF was created in February 2023 and is made up of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, county law enforcement agencies, FDLE, and the state attorney’s office to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle gangs in the county.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said his agency began investigating gang drive-by shootings in 2019 after gang members disrespected the grave of a teenager who drowned. According to Judd, the gang members took videos of them dancing on the teen’s grave and posted them on social media.

Sheriff Judd said that set the teen’s brothers off and a conflict began.

In 2019, Judd said there was an investigation into a nationwide gang and 41 arrests were made in that operation. Judd stressed that deputies arrested the entire hierarchy of the gang in Florida. The president of the North Carolina chapter was also arrested.

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"We decimated that gang," Judd said.

Yet, the gangs went on.

In 2020, Judd said there were six drive-by shootings. He acknowledged that it was a low number and credited it to busting up the Florida chapter of the nationwide gang.

In 2021, the number of drive-by shootings increased to 16. Judd said a 20-year-old man was shot and killed that year when the suspects left a bowling alley and had a running ‘gun battle’ on the streets of Winter Haven.

In 2022, there were 63 drive-by shootings.

That year, there were two drive-by shootings on the same night. In one of the shootings, a 19-year-old was shot in bed, and in the other shooting a 12-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl were shot while they lay in bed. Judd said the people in the house had nothing to do with the gang. Instead, according to Judd, the gang members shot up the wrong house to get back at a gang banger.

Judd said," They will kill you graveyard dead and, unfortunately, we have the evidence to prove that."

In February 2023, the Violent Gang Investigative Task Force was created and the investigations were centralized.

Judd said deputies learned they were getting older, more organized gang members, but not the "kids that were running and gunning."

He added, "We are not going to allow kids to kill kids."

In 2023, there were 32 shootings in Polk County. 

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Judd said there are several different operations underway. 

According to Judd, between Feb. 2023 and Aug. 2024 there was a 30% reduction in gang shootings and 45% fewer gang shootings in the county. 

"We’ll always give them the opportunity to mend their evil ways, or we’ll help them mend their evil ways," Judd stated. 

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Judd said, of the 144 suspects arrested, they had 1,599 prior arrests. He added that they had a total of 2,839 criminal charges before they were arrested in these operations. 

The sheriff vowed that more people would be arrested in the future.

"We’re going to make a positive difference and these folks who run and gun and think they’re going to get away with it – they’re wrong," Judd stated. "They’re super wrong. I’m going to send them to prison for a very long time."

The sheriff mentioned that there is a GRIP unit, which stands for Gang Restrictive Intervention Program. According to Judd, this is a mentoring program within the schools. 

Judd also said he is working with churches in Polk County to try to keep kids out of trouble. 

He said the challenge is that the absence of an event can’t be measured. He said it’s easy to show the suspects who have been arrested, but difficult to show someone who didn’t commit crimes due to these initiatives. 

"If you have one kid that shoots one kid, that’s unacceptable," Judd said. "So, when we get to zero drive-by shootings. Zero gang retaliations. Zero kids being shot and zero kids getting these guns. They’re getting them off the streets, they can’t just walk in and buy them. Then we’re successful. As long as you have anyone shooting at anyone, it’s not acceptable."

Judd added that crime in Polk County is at a 50-year low. 

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