884 nabbed in child prostitution sweep

[Cao Pi]

884 nabbed in child prostitution sweep

Published Nov 10 2010

Some of the suspects arrested during the three-day crackdown​

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A three-day crackdown on child prostitution rackets across the US has resulted in the rescue of 69 children and the arrest of 884 people, including 99 pimps. In Tennessee, authorities announced the arrests of 29 peoples involved in gangs that trafficked underage Somali and African-America girls in a prostitution ring. The three-day federal sweep, called Operation Cross Country V, involved 40 cities nationwide and is part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative.

"Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the continued efforts of our crimes against children task forces," said Shawn Henry, executive assistant director of the FBI's Criminal, Cyber, Response and Service Branch, in a statement.

Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in the US​

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"There is no work more important than protecting America's children and freeing them from the cycle of victimisation." "Through our strategic partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies, we are able to make a difference." The city where the most children were recovered was Seattle, Washington, with 16, according to FBI Special Agent Jason Pack.

He said seven pimps were arrested in the city. Following Seattle were Tacoma, Washington, and Sacramento, California, each with seven child prostitutes rescued by authorities. Ten pimps were nabbed in Detroit, two in Tacoma and three in Sacramento.

FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, the Department of Justice's Child Exploitation-Obscenity Section and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children formed the Innocence Lost National Initiative in June 2003 to tackle growing child prostitution. There are now 39 Innocence Lost task forces and working groups throughout the US.

So far, those units have rescued 1,250 children and brought about 438 indictments, 625 convictions, distrupted 153 criminal enterprises and successfully dismantled 58 others. Convictions have resulted in sentences ranging up to 25-years-to-life and in the seizures of more than US$3 million in assets.