A sweeping undercover operation across the Lower Florida Keys has ended with 15 people in handcuffs, facing charges ranging from prostitution solicitation to online child exploitation. Among those booked were a Key West man accused of trying to lure a minor and a New Jersey visitor caught up in the same sting hundreds of miles from home.
The arrests, confirmed by Monroe County authorities, stemmed from a multi-agency law enforcement sweep that resulted in 15 arrests on sex-related charges, according to Tampa Free Press. The operation zeroed in on human trafficking, online child exploitation and illicit sexual activity, the outlet reported. Detectives with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Division carried out the sting alongside several state and federal partners, per the same report.
Two Men Face Child Exploitation Counts
The most serious charges landed on Timothy William Turso, 47, of Key West, who was charged with using a computer to seduce, solicit or lure a child, along with traveling to meet a minor for sexual activity, using a two-way device to facilitate a felony, and possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. DeWayne Steven Smith, 41, of Copeland, was booked on nearly identical counts: using a computer to lure a child, traveling to meet a minor for sex and using a two-way communications device to commit a felony, the Tampa Free Press report notes.
Florida law governing computer-based solicitation of minors covers anyone who seduces, solicits, lures or entices a child — or someone they believe to be a child — into unlawful sexual conduct, according to the Florida Senate's published statute.
Prostitution and Unlicensed Health Care Charges
Several other suspects were booked for offering to commit prostitution, per the same account. Daisy Dee Bock, 62, of Key West, and Lauren Elaine Perlmutter, 65, of Summerland Key, each face that charge along with practicing as an unlicensed health care professional. Deshoneta Cobina Ward, 29, of Fort Lauderdale, and Rismary Rivera Fuente, 42, of Stock Island, were also charged with offering to commit prostitution.
On the solicitation side, John Ray Jackson III, 36, of Sugarloaf Key, and Thomas Gerard Russomano, 62, of West Caldwell, New Jersey, were both arrested and charged with solicitation of prostitution. The sheriff’s office did not release further details regarding specific booking locations or bond amounts, the outlet reported.
A Statewide Pattern of Trafficking Cases
The Keys operation lands amid broader statewide numbers that show how resource-intensive these cases can be. Florida recorded 138 statewide human-trafficking arrests in 2024, and 83% of the victims in those cases were adults, according to the Florida Statewide Council on Human Trafficking. The council also reported that the average cost of prosecuting a single human-trafficking case runs $100,749.20.
Separate estimates from University of South Florida researchers, cited by the Florida Phoenix, put the number of sex-trafficking victims statewide at 200,000 in 2024, with half believed to be minors. The same researchers estimated 540,000 victims of labor exploitation or trafficking that year. Florida Department of Law Enforcement data cited in that report found that 84% of victims identified over the prior three years were female and 14% were male, while FDLE itself reported 90 human-trafficking arrests in 2024.
Other Recent Keys Enforcement Activity
The Lower Keys have seen other federal enforcement pushes targeting sex offenders. U.S. Border Patrol's Miami Sector, together with ICE and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, arrested 10 undocumented migrants in the Florida Keys over a three-week span, according to Keys Weekly. Those 10 were registered sex offenders with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with convictions involving lewd or lascivious acts against children, sexual battery of victims ages 12 to 15, statutory sexual seduction and solicitation of a child, per that report. Border Patrol agents also made two additional apprehensions the week before, including a Cuban national with a homicide conviction and another Cuban national arrested on animal-cruelty charges, Keys Weekly reported.
A separate human-trafficking operation in Monroe County, Alabama, reportedly led to six arrests on June 4 and 5, according to a Fox 10 News report. The Monroe County State Attorney's Office has noted that the Florida Abuse Hotline received 2,247 reports alleging human trafficking in 2016 and 2017 alone, including 1,680 identified unique victims, underscoring how long the issue has drawn law enforcement attention in the region.
