FBI sweep rescues 79 child sex workers, arrests 104 suspected pimps

An FBI sweep of child prostitution rings across the United States has resulted in the arrests of 104 suspected pimps, Reuters reported. 

The operation also rescued 79 children — 77 girls and two boys, aged 13 to 17 — who had been forced into prostitution, MSNBC.com reported. 

One of the children reported being involved in prostitution from the age of 11, Kevin Perkins, acting executive assistant director of the FBI's Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch, told Reuters. 

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The three-day sting operations took place Thursday through Saturday in 57 US cities including Atlanta, Sacramento, and Toledo, Ohio, Reuters reported. Local and FBI officials were both involved. 

"It is clear that child prostitution and sex trafficking do not just occur somewhere else on the other side of the world," Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a partner in the effort, said in a news release, according to MSNBC. "These insidious crimes are occurring in American cities and the victims are American kids." 

Allen estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking each year, Reuters reported, many recruited online through social media. 

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This most recent sweep, called Operation Cross Country, was the sixth sting operation since 2008, coordinated by the FBI's Innocence Lost National Initiative to combat the growing problem of child sex trafficking in the United States, MSNBC reported. 

Innocence Lost operations have rescued more than 2,200 children off the streets since 2003 and have lead to 1,017 convictions, the FBI told MSNBC.