Child Prostitutes Rescued By FBI, Police

Sweep In Cities Across U.S. Frees Dozens As Young As 13, More Than 50 Alleged Pimps Arrested

(CBS/AP)  The FBI has completed a sweep in major cities around the U.S., rescuing 48 teenage girls - some as young as 13 - whom the agency says were forced into prostitution.

Over a three-night initiative called Operation Cross Country, federal agents working with local law enforcement also arrested 55 pimps.

Daniel Roberts, the FBI's Deputy Assistant Director, told CBS News that many of the girls are runaways.

"Many of them are what they call 'throwaway children' - they're children that really nobody wants," Roberts said. "They have no family structures, they have no viable friends."

FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko told CBS News that a lot of the kids, mostly girls, were American runaways who found themselves forced into prostitution. "They were runaways that found they had nowhere else to go. These were some down-on-their-luck young people."

"Many of the girls told us horrible details about how they had been treated by their pimps," Roberts told CBS. "They indicated in many cases that they had been severely beaten."

Roberts noted that many girls still did not feel safe after they had been rescued. "Some of them cooperated immediately with us, and some of them did not," he said. "We feel some of them still feared retribution from their pimps in the future."

Historically, federal authorities rarely play a role in anti-prostitution crackdowns, but the FBI is becoming more involved as it tries to rescue children caught up in the business.

"The goal is to recover kids. We consider them the child victims of prostitution," said Roberts.

Most of the children are put into the custody of local child protection agencies.

Cities where the FBI and local law enforcement agencies conducted operations last weekend included Anchorage, Alaska; Atlanta; the Baltimore area; Birmingham, Ala.; Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Cleveland; Dallas; Denver; the Detroit area; Houston; Jackson, Miss.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Las Vegas; the Los Angeles area; Miami; Minneapolis, Minn.; Oakland, Calif.; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Diego; San Francisco; the Seattle area; Toledo, Ohio; and Washington, D.C.

More than 500 arrests were made in all. In addition to the pimps, about 50 adult prostitutes were arrested, with the remaining arrests customers, according to Kolko.

Although most charges will be filed by the states, the FBI will see what federal crimes may have been committed, to ensure much tougher prison sentences than what would likely be handed down in state criminal courts.

Racketeering or conspiracy charges, for example, can result in decades of jail time.

"Some of these networks of pimps and their organizations are very sophisticated, they're interstate," said Roberts, requiring wiretaps and undercover sting operations to bring charges.

The weekend's roundup marked the third such Operation Cross Country, and is part of a broader federal program launched in 2003 to crack down on the sexual exploitation of children.

[hambonehd]

"JetRanger7 "

That's where most of the customers are !!
What do you think they are doing with all that ballout money.!

[jetranger7]

WOW the article said Washington DC, no that can't be, not where our elected and appointed politicians reside most of the time,, that just can't be,, Why I do Decalare, thats just so ridlicious, (sarcasim) ! I really don't doubt it a bit tho , !