A law enforcement sweep led to the rescuing of 79 teenage prostitutes and the arrests of 104 alleged pimps, the FBI said on June 25, 2012.
A three-day law enforcement sweep focusing on teenage prostitution led to the rescue of 79 children and the arrests of 104 alleged pimps, the FBI announced on Monday.
According to CNN, Operation Cross Country took place from Friday to Sunday and involved more than 2,500 officers at the local, state and federal levels working in 57 cities.
Reuters reported that the teenagers, aged from 13 to 17 years old, were rescued from hotels, truck stops and store fronts and were being held in custody until they could be placed in welfare organizations. All were US citizens and 77 of them were girls, said the FBI.
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Acting Executive Assistant Director Kevin Perkins said child prostitution has become a nationwide problem, with organized crime groups using social media, chat lines and text messaging to recruit children, according to CBS News.
"Many times the children that are taken in, in these types of criminal activities are children that are disaffected, they are from broken homes, they may be on the street themselves — they are really looking for a meal, they are looking for shelter, they are looking for someone to take care of them and that's really the first approach that's made," said Perkins, according to CNN.
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Ernie Allen, the president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking every year, according to Reuters.
Operation Cross Country was launched in 2003 and this one was the sixth sweep since 2008. According to the FBI, 2,200 children have been rescued through the program, said Reuters.
Allen and Perkins urged social services to help the prostitutes with Allen saying, "These kids are really damaged. They require a specialized kind of help," according to CBS News.
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