Other major problems are the culture of abuse, both physical and emotional, and the drug use prevalent in child prostitution. “Commonly some of these children have stepped away from their families,” he said, adding that “there is no one to call and report ‘my daughter is missing.’” The circumstances of the situation make finding victims especially difficult, he explained. Operation Cross Country is part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative, which seeks to identify children lured or forced into prostitution and remove them from risk, according to Hosko. Opinion: Sex trafficking, an American problem too “This operation serves as a reminder that these abhorrent crimes can happen anywhere,” Hosko said. Meanwhile, New York City had none of either, Las Vegas had one of each and New Orleans had five arrests and four recovered children, compared with 13 arrests and three child prostitute rescues in Oklahoma City.
The San Francisco-Oakland region in California had 17 arrests and 12 recovered child prostitutes, while Detroit, which just declared itself bankrupt, had 18 arrests and 10 rescued children. “That tends to be the age that many of us as loving and caring parents occasionally find some differences with our teenage daughters, and exploiters will exploit that gap,” Hosko said.Ī breakdown of cities where the latest arrests took place, and where child prostitutes were recovered, reveals some unexpected findings. While technology has changes methods of procurement, the underlying demographics of the child victims of the prostitution industry remain little changed – young girls around 13 to 16 years old with few or no family ties.įBI: Nationwide child prostitution sweep leads to 104 arrests “We have had children recovered from each of those events, multiple children from each of those events in the past,” he said. 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. Watch: Fighting sex trafficking in the U.S.Īuthorities also have learned more about how the market thrives. He credited the success in part to an expansion of the probe to websites such as which he called a forum “where pimps and exploiters gather.” 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. Those arrested face a variety of federal and state charges, including pimping. It was the largest such sweep to date, he said, with 28 searches and 129 seizures of cash, drugs, vehicles and firearms. Human trafficking survivor: Go after johns
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