By Caitlin Osborne
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — The FBI announced Monday that it had rescued 52 children involved in underage prostitution over the past three days and arrested nearly 700 people including 60 pimps.
Dubbed “Operation Cross Country IV”, the FBI said it teamed up with local and state police law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to save the children.
“It is repugnant that children in these times could be subjected to the great pain, suffering and indignity of being forced into sexual slavery for someone else’s profit,” Assist. Atty. Gen. Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division said in a statement.
The operation, part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative, targeted truck stops, casinos, websites and “street tracks” in 36 cities around the country. Street tracks are locations where the children are merchandised and offered to customers.
The Lost National Initiative was formed in 2003 by the FBI, NCMEC and Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenities Section.
Since then, nearly 900 kids have been rescued, and more than 500 pimps have been prosecuted, according to Ernie Allen, President and CEO of NCMEC.
“We are honored to be the FBI’s partner in this effort,” he added. “I truly believe that what they are doing is historic.”
Allen said this marks the first time in American history that federal leadership has taken on such a predominant role in ending child prostitution.
NCMEC estimates that over 100,000 children in the U.S. are victims of sexual trafficking.
