The FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office announced multiple law enforcement agencies worked together to rescue 33 missing children in southern California.
“Of the 33 children recovered, eight were being sexually exploited at the time of recovery. Two were recovered multiple times during the operation while on the ‘track,’ a common term used to describe a known location for commercial sex trafficking. It is not uncommon for victims who are rescued to return to commercial sex trafficking either voluntarily or by force, fraud, or coercion,” the office said in a press release Friday.
“Several other victims located had been sexually exploited in the past and were considered vulnerable missing children prior to their recovery,” it added.
The children were found during “Operation Lost Angeles,” which began on Jan. 11, with the FBI working with “the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and more than two dozen law enforcement and non-governmental partners.”
“The FBI considers human trafficking modern day slavery and the minors engaged in commercial sex trafficking are considered victims,” said Assistant Director in Charge Kristi K. Johnson. “While this operation surged resources over a limited period of time with great success, the FBI and our partners investigate child sex trafficking every day of the year and around the clock.”
In 2020, the FBI arrested 473 traffickers after launching 664 human trafficking investigations.
“Human trafficking is a pervasive and insidious crime that threatens the safety of our young people, who are the future of our communities,” said Michel Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. “We can only begin to take back the future of our youth with the strong partnerships forged between outstanding service providers and law enforcement.”
