FBI, police bust child prostitution ring

[Emit]

Just heard about this on the news, but this is the only link I could find. The news report said 500 Johns had been arrested, as well.

This is horrific, straight out of Law and Order, SVU. Glad they busted them and my thoughts are with these teenagers...

Monday, February 23, 2009
FBI, police bust child prostitution ring

The FBI along with local police rescued 48 teenage prostitutes, some as young as 13, in a nationwide sweep to remove kids from the illegal sex trade and punish the pimps.

Over a three-night initiative called Operation Cross Country, FBI agents working with local law enforcement arrested 50 pimps.

The teenage prostitutes found in the investigation ranged from 13 to 17.

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

Unfortunately, the vast majority of these kids are deemed 'throwaway kids' with no family support and no friends. They're kids that nobody wants, they're loners. Many are runaways," said FBI Deputy Assistant Director Daniel Roberts.

~snip~

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.

List of cities where the FBI and local police conducted Operation Cross Country last weekend to rescue children from a life of prostitution and arrest their pimps.

http://blackwellbrief.blogspot.com/2009/02/fbi-police-bust-child-prostitution-ring.html

edited to fix link

[seabeyond]

1. our adults have such an appetite for our youth..... nothing to see here. n/t

[Emit]

5. 13 to 17 yo's

:cry:

My daughter is 17. I just can't even imagine what this is like for these kids. Such harshness.

[seabeyond]

8. 11 and 14 for me....

that being said, i dont think we need to have children to know the outrage here. but we can all pretend about the reasons we have become such a nation to feed off our youth in such an expansive manner..... or ignore it, or deny it. :puke:

[Idealism]

2. Did they get Larry Craig again or was this a different ring

[FloridaJudy]

23. Craig was arrested

For approaching another adult male. Restroom sex doesn't appeal to me in the least, but it doesn't horrify me nearly as much as the sexual exploitation of children.

[notadmblnd]

3. there was a program on late Saturday night about the sex slave trade

right here in the USA. It done via the internet, the pimps lure the girls in through chat rooms. Meet up with them, abduct them and force them to have sex withe their customers. It was horrific. I think it was on MSNBC but I really can't remember.

[seabeyond]

16. todays world our adults play in our teens sexual exploration and teens play in adult world

via the net. there is no longer a seperation of the two worlds.

[dmr]

19. I saw that on MSNBC - about snatching kids off our streets & schools

It made me shiver. Two girls, cousins, the oldest 15, walking on their way to Wendy's were snatched by creeps in a van, was just one story.

Another was a story about a girl who was 'befriended' by a classmate at school to have a 'sleep-over' at her house. She was heavily drugged, and sold for $300,000.00. Incredibly her family got her back, but nearly lost her because of the toxic cocktail of drugs in her system.

Unfortunately the stories go on to say most police departments have the mistaken belief that missing young teens are only run-aways; they don't see that there is a problem with children being 'snatched'. The families of the two stories above ran into road-blocks because of that mistaken belief - which is why, I think, they came forward with MSNBC.

MSNBC also stated that many of the perpetrators are former drug dealers. The dealers have found that human slavery is more profitable because unlike selling drugs, they still have and control their human product to sell over and over and over again.

And, it was cautioned about calling the human slaves 'prostitutes', because most of the time they are VICTIMS!

If the DOJ, FBI, DEA, ICE & DHS were on the ball, they'd use less of their resources over-hounding political dissent and focus more on this profitable, violent, vile criminal activity.

From the link in the OP:

Cities where the FBI and local law enforcement agencies conducted operations last weekend to rescue child prostitutes and arrest their accused pimps:

_Anchorage, Alaska

_Atlanta

_Baltimore area

_Birmingham, Ala.

_Boston

_Charlotte, N.C.

_Chicago

_Cleveland

_Dallas

_Denver

_Detroit area

_Houston

_Jackson, Miss.

_Jacksonville, Fla.

_Las Vegas

_Los Angeles area

_Miami

_Minneapolis, Minn.

_Oakland, Calif.

_Phoenix

_Portland, Ore.

_Sacramento, Calif.

_San Diego

_San Francisco

_Seattle area

_Toledo, Ohio

_Washington

__

Source: FBI

[get the red out]

4. I wish

anyone who exploited or pimped children could get life in prison without ever having the possibility for parole. There should be no other sentence. These people should never be on the street again.

[seabeyond]

9. you realize the justifications by adults out there fucking these kids, validating

this behavior. we hear it all on this board so many times, in so many ways.

[EOTE]

20. I have never seen a single justification for child prostitution on the DU.

I'm pretty sure that you haven't either.

[seabeyond]

22. fucking kids.... and ya i have heard it on du..... and pretty sure you have too. n/t

[Raskolnik]

25. I'd be very surprised if you saw a defense of child prostitution on DU n/t

[seabeyond]

27. there was a thread with a 12 yr old stripper in dallas. a thread of men defending saying of course

no one could tell she was a mere 12 yrs old. so many 12 yr olds look 18, utter bullshit. one poster was so blatant in disregard of a 12 yr old stripper entertaining a bunch of men, grown fuckin men, fellow strippers not stopping it or employers not doing a damn thing that he said..... once a girl hits puberty, she is free game. i replied that some girls hit puberty as young as 10, are they too free game. no comment. two poster justified his remark.

so yes

though stripping isnt prostitution it is in the same ballpark.

that thread was a same day of a sweep of kid prostitution in dallas, about 6 months ago.

i have yet to forget that lovely thread. i will probably remember that thread forever in total disgust...

[madokie]

6. Give 'em a trial then hang the guilty at midday

and make it a holiday

[get the red out]

7. I could go with that too!

[emilyg]

10. I'd like that very much.

[madokie]

12. You bet

it sounds a lot better reading it than it did when I was typing it too. We are a nation of laws and not of men. we must get back to that place and do it quickly.

[Xenotime]

11. What happened to the progressive nature of the forum?!?

As horrific as this is, these people need help not harm. These people are obviously suffering and "hang the guilty" is the best hope we can give them? Sad.

[seabeyond]

13. there is a market for our youth thru demand. all these sad men need to be fixed?

how do you see us doing this.

[madokie]

15. slitting bags and sticking legs through them is not it either, is it?

words deleted by me

[madokie]

14. I know but you know

this is a progressive forum and this is only the thoughts of a few of us, not an endorsement of us so the board goes on. There have been some grave issues concerning the murder and the destroying of a country, a way of life for a whole group of people. None of the Iraqi living today will ever see them get back to where they were, even as bad or not as you want to believe it was. Hanging of the war criminals in this cabal is warranted. sometimes there need to be detriments and that would be one for in this kinds of atrocities. I would go so far as to invite the whole of the middle east to be witness to the hanging too. Nothing and I mean nothing is too much for the likes of the perpertrators of this carnage, nothing. Progressive or not

[SidneyCarton]

26. wood chipper, feet first.

All right, maybe not. But you understand the sentiment.

[nichomachus]

17. Has anyone seen any evidence that Sen. Dick Shelby was not involved in this?

I guess until we see that evidence, we can't be sure.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5110042

[Lochloosa]

18. So, the rumors are true.

:evilgrin:

[lpbk2713]

21. Check the names of the arrested perps ...

... against local RNC donors. I'll bet there will be a lot of matches.

[Mari333]

24. and I will not 'forget' the Franklin coverup

http://www.armchairsubversive.org/