US Marshals locate 225 missing children, including sex trafficking victims, across the nation in 'Operation We Will Find You'
The U.S. Marshals Service located 225 missing children across the nation and beyond during a 10-week operation.
The mission dubbed "Operation We Will Find You," resulted in the U.S. Marshals recovering 169 children and safely located another 59. There were 28 cases referred to "law enforcement agencies for further investigation of crimes such as drugs and weapons, sex trafficking, and sex offender violations."
The youngest child recovered was only 6 months old.
Three missing children were said to be victims of child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and medical or mental health conditions.
The endangered child operation concentrated on areas with high numbers of "critically" missing children. The operation focused on the following locations: eastern Virginia; Washington D.C.; Maryland; Massachusetts; South Carolina; New Orleans; San Antonio; Detroit; Yakima, Washington; Orlando, Florida; Los Angeles; northern Ohio; Guam; Puerto Rico; and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
There were 10 endangered children who were tracked down in Mexico.
"Law enforcement reported allegations of trafficking in over 40 cases the U.S. Marshals Service assisted with," the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement. "Of the cases closed, 86% were endangered runaways, nearly 9% were family abductions, and 5% were considered otherwise missing."
In cases of the missing children who were recovered, 62% were recovered within seven days after the U.S. Marshals Service got involved.
“The U.S. Marshals Service is fully committed to the important mission of protecting the American people, especially our most vulnerable population – our children,” said Ronald Davis, Director of the U.S. Marshals Service. “The results of this operation underscore that commitment, but also highlight the necessity of these critical efforts. Our continued success can only be achieved through our collaboration with state and local law enforcement agencies, and partnership with NCMEC. Together, the USMS and NCMEC have recovered over 3,100 missing children since the passage of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act in 2015.”
The U.S. Marshals Service received support from state and local agencies, as well as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"Operation We Will Find You is a great example of how the U.S. Marshals Service continues to prioritize child protection," NCMEC President & CEO Michelle DeLaune. “NCMEC is proud of our long-standing partnership with the USMS and commends them and the participating state and local agencies who helped recover the 225 endangered missing children.”
Last May, more than 150 missing children were rescuedmissing children were rescued in North Carolina, and some were victims of human trafficking.
In March 2022, another 150 missing and endangered children were recovered in Tennessee during "Operation Volunteer Strong," a joint mission by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Department of Children's Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Anyone with information about missing or endangered children should contact their local police department or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-The-Lost.
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50 children went MISSING in September alone in THIS well-known American city
Cleveland, Ohio: Home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the birthplace of Superman, and the best place to eat a Polish Boy sandwich.
And also the place where an alarming number of children go missing, apparently, although this gruesome fact has been mostly ignored by the mainstream media.
In September alone, 50 schoolchildren were reported missing in Cleveland, and “they've had over 1,000 missing so far this year,” Hilary Kennedy tells Pat Gray.
She then plays a clip detailing the case of one particular missing child, a 15-year-old boy named Keshaun Williams who disappeared in June this year on his way home from a house party. He called his mother and told her he was coming home, but he never made it back. His phone was tracked to a nearby park, but it was turned off and the SIM card was missing. His family hasn’t seen or heard from him since.
“This is just, again, one of over a thousand kids that have gone missing,” says Hilary.
Although Cleveland PD claims that the majority of missing children are runaways, these kids are still “not immune to the dangers of society, including gang activity, drugs, prostitution, and perhaps … human trafficking.”
The issue is so severe that “an entire organization has been created in the Cleveland area to provide support to families of missing persons, assisting with searches for loved ones and helping them cope because this is happening so frequently,” Hilary explains.
“Do they suspect that they’re being trafficked in the sex trade?” asks Pat.
“PD, they basically just keep saying, ‘We don’t really know,’” says Hilary.
However, there is one disturbing news story that’s been almost entirely neglected by the mainstream media, and that is the case of John Zitner, the founder of Breakthrough Charter Schools in Ohio and the president of the Friends of Breakthrough Nonprofit, an “organization trying to help close the gap in public funding needed to provide quality education to thousands of children in Cleveland.”
Zitner was recently arrested on human trafficking and prostitution charges, leading some to wonder if there’s a connection between him, as he would have had close contact with school-aged children, and the hundreds of missing Cleveland kids.
To hear the full story, watch the clip below.
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