The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), announced Wednesday that 84 minors were recovered and 120 traffickers were arrested as part of Operation Cross Country XI from October 12-15.<\/p>\n
Within the FBI Sacramento field office\u2019s 34-county area of responsibility, the FBI and its law enforcement partners conducted operations in the four metropolitan areas: Chico, Fresno, Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe. During the operation the Porterville Police Department arrested an adult male on suspicion of felony pimping charges.<\/p>\n
In addition to successful recovery of two minors and the arrest of a pimp, more than 23 arrests were made for a variety of charges including prostitution and probation violations. The following agencies participated in Operation Cross Country XI. Butte County District Attorney\u2019s Office, El Dorado District Attorney\u2019s Office, El Dorado County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Fresno County District Attorney\u2019s Office, Fresno Police Department, Hanford Police Department, Placer County Sheriff\u2019s Department, Porterville Police Department, Sacramento County District Attorney\u2019s Office, Sacramento County Probation Department, Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s Department, Sacramento Police Department, South Lake Tahoe Police Department, and Tulare County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
This is the 11th iteration of the FBI-led Operation Cross Country (OCC), which took place this year in 55 FBI field offices and involved 78 state and local task forces, consisting of hundreds of law enforcement partners. This year\u2019s coordinated operations took place with several international partners, including Canada (Operation Northern Spotlight), the United Kingdom (Aident 8), Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe at the FBI have no greater mission than to protect our nation\u2019s children from harm. Unfortunately, the number of traffickers arrested \u2014 and the number of children recovered \u2014 reinforces why we need to continue to do this important work,\u201d said FBI Director Christopher Wray. \u201cThis operation isn\u2019t just about taking traffickers off the street. It\u2019s about making sure we offer help and a way out to these young victims who find themselves caught in a vicious cycle of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of Operation Cross Country XI, FBI agents and task force officers staged operations in hotels, casinos, and truck stops, as well as on street corners and Internet websites. The youngest victim recovered during this year\u2019s operation was 3 months old, and the average age of victims recovered during the operation was 15 years old. Minors recovered during Cross Country Operations are offered assistance from state protective services and the FBI\u2019s Victim Services Division. Depending on the level of need, victims are offered medical and mental health counseling, as well as a number of other services.<\/p>\n
Examples of stories from various cities that took part in Operation Cross Country XI:<\/p>\n
\u2014 On Oct. 13, FBI Denver recovered two minor girls \u2014 one 3-month-old and one 5-year-old. The subject, a friend of the children\u2019s family, offered an undercover officer access to the two children for sexual purposes in exchange for $600. The FBI is working with Child Protective Services to conduct a forensic interview and secure safe placement of the children. The subject was placed under arrest.<\/p>\n
Also on Oct. 13, a 16-year-old female victim was recovered by FBI El Paso, after an undercover agent called an online advertisement for entertainment. Shortly thereafter, the agent met with a 21-year-old female, who offered a fee of $200 to engage in sexual intercourse with her and another female, the 16-year-old victim. Further investigations revealed that a second adult female drove the minor and the 21-year-old to the undercover\u2019s location. Both female subjects have been arrested on federal charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cChild sex trafficking is happening in every community across America, and at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, we\u2019re working to combat this problem every day,\u201d said NCMEC President and CEO John Clark. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to work with the FBI on Operation Cross Country to help find and recover child victims. We hope OCC generates more awareness about this crisis impacting our nation\u2019s children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Operation Cross Country XI is part of the FBI\u2019s Innocence Lost National Initiative, which began in 2003 and has yielded more than 6,500 child identifications and locations. For additional information on Operation Cross Country XI and the Innocence Lost initiative, visit\u00a0www.fbi.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), announced Wednesday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","darknews-slider-full":"","darknews-featured":"","darknews-medium":"","darknews-medium-square":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"News MoLo","author_link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"Crime<\/a>","tag_info":"Crime","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6684,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6683\/revisions\/6684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}