FBI rescues 79 child sex slaves in major prostitution sweep
The FBI has rescued 79 teens held against their will and forced into prostitution from hotels, truck stops and stores during a three-day swoop on sex-trafficking rings across the country.
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The sex slaves were aged between 13 and 17, although one said she had been involved in prostitution since she was just 11, authorities said.
The minors – two of whom were boys, the rest girls – were taken from 57 different cities during “Operation Cross Country” raids on Thursday, Friday and Saturday reports Fox News.
The youngest kid was 13, while another told of being held as a sex slave since age 11, said Kevin Perkins, the head of the FBI’s criminal division.
Pimps were luring the kids through social media, targeting ones who came from “dysfunctional” families and offering them gifts, Perkins told Fox News.
The teenagers, who are all U.S. citizens, were handcuffed and held in police custody until they could be placed with child welfare organisations.
“Child prostitution remains a major threat to children across America,” said FBI acting executive assistant director Kevin Perkins. “It is a violent and deplorable crime, and we are working with our partners to disrupt and put behind bars individuals and members of criminal enterprises who would sexually exploit children.”
“These are our kids. They belong to this community, and we are responsible for them,” said Greg Fowler, FBI special agent in charge in Portland, Ore., in a separate press release. “We cannot and will not stand by and allow pimps to profit off them and ‘johns’ to use and abuse them.”
