FBI crackdown nabs pimps, rescues children
By Joe Johns and Tom Cohen, CNN
updated 9:21 PM EDT, Mon July 29, 2013
Washington (CNN) -- They are mostly teenage girls, often from broken homes where no one misses them. Their world is one of drugs and abuse -- emotional and physical -- in which they are forced to sell their bodies.
In announcing the FBI's latest crackdown on child prostitution, officials Monday described a dark underside of society that has grown through Internet sites that provide pimps easy access to johns in hotels, motels, at truck stops and just about anywhere else.
The nationwide operation over the weekend resulted in 150 arrests, with 105 children between the ages of 13 and 17 rescued, according to Ron Hosko, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division.
Overall, the three-day undercover Operation Cross Country took place in 76 cities and involved 230 law enforcement units, Hosko told a news conference.
It was the largest such sweep to date, he said, with 28 searches and 129 seizures of cash, drugs, vehicles and firearms. Those arrested face a variety of federal and state charges, including pimping.
This seventh iteration of Operation Cross Country also was the most successful, with a 30% to 40% increase in "identifying both victims and pimps" compared with previous operations, Hosko said.
He credited the success in part to an expansion of the probe to websites such as
www.backpage.com, which he called a forum "where pimps and exploiters gather."
Authorities also have learned more about how the market thrives. For example, Hosko explained that major sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the NCAA Final Four attract tens of thousands of visitors with money who want to party, and pimps with prostitutes ready to cash in.
"We have had children recovered from each of those events, multiple children from each of those events in the past," he said.
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Read more here:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/29/justice/child-prostitution-arrests/index.html?hpt=hp_t2My SON was involved in this!
He helped rescue a 16 year old girl and 5 Chinese ladies who had been held for a number of years as sex slaves.
I'm so proud of him - I could burst! Homeland Security was also involved.
They recovered 3 children from Houston up North, too.
A win for the good guys!!!!!