{"id":54603,"date":"2025-03-17T13:43:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T17:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=54603"},"modified":"2025-03-17T13:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T17:44:09","slug":"florida-uber-driver-busted-for-human-trafficking-in-undercover-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/03\/17\/florida-uber-driver-busted-for-human-trafficking-in-undercover-operation\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Uber Driver Busted for Human Trafficking in Undercover Operation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Undercover investigators with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO)<\/a> have arrested a man working in Florida as an Uber driver for human trafficking \u2014 leading to the rescue of a victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the March 13, 2025, press release<\/a>, during the course of their undercover operation in 2024, HCSO detectives identified clear signs that 45-year-old Rico Gardner had been trafficking a victim. They uncovered disturbing details, including evidence that Gardner forced the victim to engage in commercial sexual acts, controlled all the money she earned, deprived her of food and sleep, and used physical violence to control her with fear.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In addition to his job as an Uber driver, Gardner would facilitate the illicit activities for the victim by placing escort advertisements, communicating with sex buyers, and transporting them to their ‘appointments,’ where he would then wait nearby until they were finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gardner was initially arrested during the undercover operation in November of 2024, on Transporting for Prostitution and Deriving Support from the Proceeds of Prostitution charges. He was arrested again on March 12, 2025, receiving additional charges of Coercing for Commercial Sex Act by Human Trafficking and Forcing Another to Become a Prostitute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200b”I want to commend the victim for her remarkable bravery in coming forward. No one should have to live in fear as this individual forced her to,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “Her courage not only liberated herself but also serves as a beacon of hope for others who may be suffering in silence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detectives learned that the victim had been trafficked for just over a year and a half from April 10, 2024, through November 2024. HCSO states that the non-profit organization, Selah Freedom<\/a>, has been assisting in providing services to support the victim in their recovery journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HCSO arrest records<\/a> under inmate SOID 00444432 show that Gardner remains behind bars at the Falkenburg Road Jail on a $5,000 bond pending a future trial. As of publication, the investigation remains active and ongoing. HCSO states that they will release additional updates on the case through their Public Affairs Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone with information about suspected human trafficking or in need of assistance escaping a trafficking situation of their own is encouraged to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office immediately at 813-247-8200.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Undercover investigators with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) have arrested a man working in Florida as an Uber driver for human trafficking \u2014 leading to the rescue of a victim. According… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDNcL1NjcmVlbnNob3QtODEtMTQtcG5nLndlYnA_Zml0PTUzMiUyQzI5NCZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkZsb3JpZGEgVWJlciBEcml2ZXIgQnVzdGVkIGZvciBIdW1hbiBUcmFmZmlja2luZyBpbiBVbmRlcmNvdmVyIE9wZXJhdGlvbiIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.9LIvGKiZ6Xfua83Ei1UwcdhOgyc1hHEQvzWMnZaoZL4MQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":54604,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Screenshot-81-14-png.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[11123],"class_list":["post-54603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-florida-uber-driver-busted-for-human-trafficking-in-undercover-operation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54605,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54603\/revisions\/54605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}