‘Sex, Money, Murder’ gang leader faces up to five life sentences

A Florida jury found guilty “the man at the top of the pyramid” of the “Sex, Money, Murder” gang in Florida, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday.

The gang, a focus of statewide investigations, was led by Hernando Thompson, 36, the officials said. He was convicted by a jury after a trial in Polk County last week on five charges including racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and three counts of directing criminal gang activities.

“Make no mistake about it, for those who continue to say that drugs are low-level and nonviolent — if they speak those words, they are out of their mind, because drugs are anything other than low-level and nonviolent because it leads to shooting, it leads to putting guns to three-months-olds heads, it leads to robbery and murder,” Judd said during a news conference Monday. 

In 2022, then-Attorney General Ashley Moody announced that she and Judd dismantled the gang, arresting 13 leaders. Those arrests involved “a complex scheme to deal drugs in state prisons” and confiscation of more than $1.5 million in drugs. The 2022 investigation found gang members “sprayed the drugs onto pages of the bible, Koran, and greetings cards and then mailed them to gang members in the prisons.”

Polk County issued a warrant for Thompson’s arrest after that investigation. He turned himself in and was the last outstanding suspect from the 2022 case, according to Uthmeier’s office. 

Thompson’s sentencing — possibly five life sentences — is scheduled to take place next month. 

“We want to send a message: If you engage in this type of violence, if you run drugs and guns and violent behavior into communities, you are going to pay the price,” Uthmeier said.

According to Judd, the investigation included wiretapping Thompson, six search warrants, and seizure of $1.5 million in drugs, 18 firearms, and ballistic armor.

“If you are a gang member, a sex predator, drug trafficker, and you happen to be listening to this press conference: Unless you want to spend the rest of your life in a cage, I strongly encourage you to listen to the attorney general and the sheriff and relocate your operations from Florida,” statewide prosecutor Brady McVay said. 

“We’ve dismantled a lot of it,” Uthmeier said of the gang, but there are leads still being investigated, he said. 

Thompson was arrested in 2024 by Polk County for racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and three counts planning and directing criminal gang activities but bonded out.

“Judges have way too much discretion,” Uthmeier said. 

Thompson had 14 previous felonies, 10 previous misdemeanors and two stints in state prison in 2011-2013 and 2014-2015, Uthmeier’s office said.

His first arrest dates to 2003 in Orlando and later arrests included charges of aggravated assault, possession of marijuana, reckless driving, resisting arrest, carrying a prohibited weapon, battery domestic violence, sale of cocaine, and possession of cocaine.