Grady Judd touts dismantling of Sex Money Murder gang as a jury convicts its leader

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said law enforcement officials ran through the Sex Money Murder gang like Sherman through Georgia during a press conference on Monday morning after its leader was convicted on five charges including racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and three counts of directing criminal gang activities. 

The guilty verdict follows a Polk County trial held from January 5 to January 8, 2026. It took jurors about an hour to deliberate. 

The backstory:

In April 2022, Sheriff Judd announced the arrest of dozens of suspects who were facing more than 150 charges following a year-long racketeering investigation.

State law enforcement officials and investigators from police departments across the county were part of the investigation.

Sheriff Judd said the team began intercepting telephone calls and social media messages in September 2021.

"For the first time in the history in Polk County, we did a gang wiretap…where we listened to social media apps," he explained during the 2022 press conference, "where we listened to cell phones and their communications through court orders."

By the numbers:

In total, 41 suspects are facing charges. Twelve are charged with racketeering. There were 121 felony and 40 misdemeanor filings. Their criminal histories include 1,147 felonies, 161 misdemeanors, and 205 felony convictions.

On Monday, Judd stated that law enforcement officials served six search warrants, seized $1.5M in drugs, 18 firearms and ballistic armor.

What they're saying:

"You have a notorious gang leader here who ran a large-scale operation. Twelve other individuals were arrested in this case," Uthmeier explained. "He was directing everything from robbery to drive-by shootings to some of his people were pointing guns at children, where they were extorting and making threats, and ultimately trying to get their way."

According to Judd, Hernando Thompson is the head of the Sex Money Murder gang for the state of Florida and is facing the possibility of five life sentences.

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"I looked at the press conference the sheriff did a few years ago when the arrests were made," Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier stated. "He said, ‘I don’t want to see this guy breathe another free breath of fresh air again.’ Well, sheriff, he’s going to have at least one on the bus going from the jail to the prison, but rest assured he will not be breathing fresh air outside of the Department of Corrections facility. "

The sheriff said during a home invasion in Eagle Lake, the suspects pointed a gun at an 8-year-old child and then at the head of an infant.

"This is the kind of people these folks are," Judd shared.

"We had one event where the suspects received permission up the chain of command to commit a murder and were after our victim to murder him," Judd said. "The only reason he was not murdered was because the victim got away from them in the middle of the night, and by the way, we found the murderer-victim-to- be the next day or a couple of days later and locked him up on some charges we had in order to keep him alive until the investigation could be completed."

Dig deeper:

Judd stated that Thompson was arrested several years ago, but he wasn’t sure if he was in jail until his trial date.

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Polk County Jail records indicate that he was released and rebooked on January 8, 2026.

Judd said some of the suspects may have already pleaded and are in prison while others may still be awaiting trial.

"This is the organization that we successfully took down and now you’re seeing the trial," Judd explained. "This guy should spend the rest of his life breathing jail air."

"We dismantled this group," Judd added. "Will there be other people to take their places? As long as there is money. As long as there are drugs, there’s going to be somebody to take the risk. When they take the risk, we’re going to do an investigation and we’re going to lock them up."