In a nationwide effort Operation Cross Country V, a three-day roundup targeting child traffickers and pimps, more than 5 dozen children were rescued from child prostitution and 99 suspected pimps were arrested in 40 cities across 30 states and the District of Columbia.
According to the FBI, the largest group of child prostitutes, 24, was found in and around Seattle.
FBI executive assistant director Shawn Henry said the children found ranged in age from 12 to 17 and further explained:
├óΓé¼┼ôThere are groups of people out there preying on naive kids who don’t have a good sense of the way of the world. Sometimes there’s a threat of force, threats of violence. A lot these kids operate out of a sense of fear.”
Since 2003, when the FBI and the Justice Department launched the Innocence Lost National Initiative, about 1,250 child prostitutes have been located and removed from prostitution.
It├óΓé¼Γäós bittersweet to hear that justice has been served because regardless, these children still had to endure this disgusting form of abuse. We’d like to give a big THANK YOU to the FBI! Keep up the good work and bring home more of America’s lost children!