On Monday, the FBI announced that a nationwide operation that took place over three days ended with 159 arrests and the freeing of 106 teen prostitutes.
Operation Cross Country VII involved personnel from 47 different FBI divisions and took place in 76 U.S. cities. The operation was part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative, a program undertaken by the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, the Department of Justice, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to break up child prostitution rings. According to the FBI, the program has managed to recover 2,700 children from the streets and given way to 1,350 convictions.
Arrests occurred in more than 70 cities around the U.S. with Detroit at the head of the pack. Authorities arrested 18 pimps in the troubled city, while San Francisco and Atlanta came a close second with 17 arrests each. Other notable arrests were made in Oklahoma City, where 13 pimps were stopped, and Jackson, where 10 men were taken into custody.
None of the girls will be charged with prostitution as the FBI has declared that they were clearly victims, and not willing participants, of the illegal child prostitution industry.
The FBI has come forward to thank the local and state officials who took part in the operations with their departments and the NCMEC. An official report of the initiative can be viewed online, along with a video about Operation Cross Country VII.