FBI Busts Massive Child-Prostitution Ring, Rescues 105 Missing Kids
The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Monday that it executed an extensive operation over the weekend that led to the arrest of 150 people on child-prostitution charges and the rescue of 105 children.
Called Operation Cross Country, agents and other law-enforcement officials in 76 cities participated in the bust, which the FBI is calling the largest and most successful of its kind.
"We have had children recovered from each of those events, multiple children from each of those events in the past," said Ron Hosko, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division.
Many of the rescued children come from broken homes, which can make it particularly challenging to locate them. They are mostly girls, age 13 to 16, and often authorities do not even know that they have disappeared.
"Commonly some of these children have stepped away from their families," Hosko said. "There is no one to call and report 'my daughter is missing.'"
According to the FBI report, the highest number of children recovered in one city was 12 in San Francisco, while the greatest number of pimps, 18, were arrested in Detroit. Interestingly, no children were found and no pimps were arrested in New York, Salt Lake City or Washington, D.C. (You can read the full list of cities at the FBI's website.)