The FBI’s annual nationwide sex trafficking crackdown has led to the recovery of 84 exploited children, among them infants and toddler, and landed 120 suspects behind bars.
Over the course of four days, from October 12-15, FBI agents from 55 field offices and hundreds of state and local law enforcement officials participated in Operation Cross Country XI targeting human traffickers.
As part of the operation, FBI agents and task force officers carried out stings in hotels, casinos, and truck stops, as well as on street corners and Internet websites visited by pimps, prostitutes, and their johns.
Vulnerable victims: The FBI’s annual nationwide sex trafficking crackdown has led to the recovery of 84 exploited children, among them a three-month-old and her five-year-old sister
Cyber trap: FBI agents carried out stings on Internet websites visited by pimps, prostitutes, and their johns
‘We at the FBI have no greater mission than to protect our nation’s children from harm. Unfortunately, the number of traffickers arrested—and the number of children recovered—reinforces why we need to continue to do this important work,’ said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
‘This operation isn’t just about taking traffickers off the street. It’s about making sure we offer help and a way out to these young victims who find themselves caught in a vicious cycle of abuse.’
The youngest victim rescued during this year’s bust was just three months old, and the average age of victims recovered during the operation was 15 years old.
Now in its 11th iteration, Operation Cross Country has expanded beyond the US borders, with Canada, the United Kingdom, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand undertaking similar operations.
Feds and their local partners busted suspects offering children for sex in hotels in places like Colorado, Wyoming and Texas
This year’s four-day sting operation resulted in arrests of 120 accused sex traffickers
Their efforts were coordinated with the FBI and its local partners, along with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
‘Child sex trafficking is happening in every community across America and at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, we’re working to combat this problem every day,” said NCMEC president and CEO John Clark.
During operations by FBI Denver’s Rocky Mountain Innocence Lost Task Force, a three-month-old girl and her five-year-old sister were rescued on October 13 after a friend who was staying with the family made a deal with an undercover task force officer to sell both children for sex in exchange for $600.
The Denver task force is responsible for rescuing a total of 17 children across Colorado and Wyoming.
On the same day, a 16-year old girl was recovered by a FBI field office in El Paso, Texas, after an undercover agent answered an online ad offering entertainment.
A female suspect is pictured above being questioned by an undercover agent inside a hotel room during Operation Cross Country
Since 2003, FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative has led to the prosecution of countless sex traffickers
According to the FBI, the agent set up a meeting with a 21-year-old woman, who said that it would cost him $200 to have sex with her and the 16-year-old victim. The woman and an accomplice were arrested.
All of the rescued children were offered services by specialists who are either part of the FBI’s Victim Services Division or members of other local and state law enforcement agencies.
The FBI first launched its Innocence Lost National Initiative in 2003. Since its creation, the program has resulted in the identification and recovery of more than 6,500 children from child sex trafficking and the prosecution of countless traffickers, more than 30 of whom have received life sentences.