FBI coordinated 16-city child prostitution sweep

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FBI coordinated 16-city child prostitution sweep

Postby sam » Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:56 am

Hundreds Seized in Sweep Against Child Prostitution
By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: June 26, 2008
New York Times

Twenty-one sexually exploited children have been saved from the streets, and 389 people arrested on charges of trafficking children for prostitution, in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation calls the largest such multistate sweep ever, officials said Wednesday.

The five-day operation, this week and last, spanned 16 cities and involved hundreds of local, state and federal agencies in the work of rescuing missing children, many of them runaways, and identifying networks behind domestic child trafficking for the sex trade.

The sweep was part of an annual roundup to draw attention to the issue. It marked the fifth anniversary of the Innocence Lost National Initiative, which was undertaken by the F.B.I. to address child prostitution and has led to the conviction of 308 people on a variety of federal and state charges. In all, 433 exploited children have been rescued as a result of the initiative, federal officials said. [Why the discrepancy between 21 victims in the first sentence and 433 in the 3rd paragraph? - Donna]

But the rising popularity of Internet-based communication has made it easier for predators both to reach potential victims and to advertise victims to clients.

“The sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unforgivable crimes,” Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, said at a news conference at the bureau’s headquarters in Washington. “What is different as we stand here today is that we are faced with the increasing use of social network sites and other advances in technology to carry out these crimes and facilitate these criminal enterprises.”

Ernie Allen, president and chief executive of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a partner in the sweep, said child prostitution was a kind of modern slavery.

“Child trafficking for the purpose of prostitution is organized criminal activity using kids as commodities for sale and trade,” Mr. Allen said at the news conference. “These kids are victims. They lack the ability to walk away.”

The sweep was coordinated by the Crimes Against Children Unit of the F.B.I. The operation focused on truck stops, motels, casinos and various Internet sites.

One of the 16 cities that were targets of the sweep was Detroit. Sandra Berchtold, the spokeswoman for the bureau’s office there, said investigators in Michigan saw girls as young as 12 forced into the sex trade after being abducted or falsely recruited for what they thought were modeling, dancing or acting jobs.

“Generally we see the leaders of prostitution rings recruiting the individuals,” Ms. Berchtold said. “A lot of times the individuals come from broken homes. At a certain point, they seem to accept their lives. They’ve been out there for years. The subculture brought them in, trained them and made them believe there’s nothing else.”
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