TSA worker from NC charged with human trafficking in child sex sting operation
Raleigh NC March 16th, 2024
A TSA worker from Raleigh-Durham International Airport was arrested in Florida last month in a child sex sting operation.
Edmundo Dasilva, 37, of Holly Springs, is charged with multiple felonies, including human trafficking, use of a computer to solicit a guardian, traveling to meet a minor and use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, Dasilva responded to an ad posted on social media by an undercover detective.
Dasilva is accused of communicating with an adult he thought had access to a child and expressing desire to pay $60 to perform sex acts on the child.
The sheriff’s office said Dasilva agreed to meet the undercover detective in Florida, where he was arrested.
Dasilva had two condoms in his pocket at the time of arrest, officials said.
Dasilva told detectives he is married and that he works as a transportation security officer. In a press conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Dasilva worked at RDU before his arrest.
“This is who the federal government trusts to screen you,” Judd said. “[It] makes you wonder when they want to do extra screening in children, doesn’t it?”
The sheriff said Dasilva thought he was paying a father to have sex with his daughter.
“We saved children from being victims, because if he hadn’t hit on our ad, he might’ve hit on another ad for a real child,” Judd said.
Dasilva told detectives he was in Florida to attend a birthday party, but the sheriff said he was arrested before he could attend.
Dasilva and seven other suspects were arrested in the Polk County Sheriff’s Office 8-day-long undercover investigation targeting child sex predators between Feb. 22 and Feb. 29. The other suspects all live in Florida.