In a Virginia hotel that ordinarily caters to business travelers and
vacationers, FBI agents and local police officers were encountering a
different kind of clientele.
Throughout Friday evening, a handful of prostitutes came thinking they’d made an appointment with a “customer” in Room 403.
Instead, it was a sting. The “customer” was really
an undercover cop. And the whole sordid affair was being captured on
hidden cameras by officers in the adjoining room.
The arrests that followed were similar to those playing out
across the nation last week during a three-day sweep called Operation
Cross Country II. The goal: get child prostitutes off the
streets and into protective services and disrupt the individuals and
organizations that victimize children.
The FBI, along with the Department of Justice, the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and our law enforcement
partners around the country—in all, 92 local, state, and
federal agencies in 29 U.S. cities—conducted the coordinated effort as
part of our ongoing Innocence Lost Initiative.
A total of 630 law enforcement personnel participated in Operation
Cross Country II. The operation resulted in 642 arrests (including 73
pimps and 518 prostitutes), the disruption of 12 large-scale
prostitution operations, and, most importantly, the rescue of 47
children—ages 13 to 17 years old—from the sex trade. Ten of those
children had been listed as “missing” in the NCMEC database.
“Sex trafficking of children
remains one of the most violent and unconscionable crimes committed in
this country," FBI
Deputy Director John S. Pistole said at a press conference. “There are few law enforcement missions more
important than protecting our nation’s children.”
The FBI's Innocence Lost program brings state and federal law enforcement agencies,
prosecutors, and social service providers from around the country to
NCMEC, where the groups are trained together to combat child prostitution.
This cooperative effort—there are currently 28 Innocence Lost task
forces and working groups around the country—has been highly
successful. Last June, the first Operation Cross Country led to more
than 350 arrests and rescues of 21 children. To date, the work of the
Innocence Lost Initiative has resulted in:
- 265 indictments;
- 365 convictions on a combination of state and federal charges;
- 46 criminal enterprises disrupted and 36 successfully dismantled; and
- Substantial
sentences of convicted pimps, including two life sentences and several
sentences ranging in length from 30 to 40 years.
Most important of all, the FBI's efforts have led to the recovery of 575 child victims. Unfortunately, Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC, estimates there may be
“tens of thousands” of juvenile sex trafficking victims in the United
States.
Related Videos:
Get a look inside Friday's undercover sting.
Listen to excerpts of remarks the FBI press conference.
with FBI Deputy Director John Pistole.