Law enforcement agencies in Florida say they have recovered 163 missing children during a four-and-a-half day statewide operation that reached all the way across the United States and into 12 other countries, according to information shared by officials earlier this week. Attorney General James Uthmeier, along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement also shared information about the operation.
Operation Statewide Shield is the first statewide child-recovery initiative and the largest such effort in the history of the state. The children who were found ranged in age from 2 months to 17-years-old. Officials stated that many of them had been abused, neglected, and exploited. Some had even experienced the horrors of human trafficking.
FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass revealed that 46 children were recovered through the Tampa Bay region, along with 41 in Miami, 32 in Jacksonville, 21 in Orlando, 12 in Fort Myers, eight in Pensacola, and three in Tallahassee. The operation also involved investigations and recoveries in other states such as Ohio, Alabama, New York, California, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and Tennessee.
Other countries were involved as well, such as Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Spain, and Taiwan. Officials then explained that the cases were varied and that not all 163 children were connected to one specific trafficking organization. Uthmeier also stated that some of the kidnappings were the result of custody disputes, abuse or neglect, foster care situations, and runaways.
According to a report from CBS 12, Rita Peters, special counsel to the attorney general for human trafficking, said, “Recovery is just the first day of a child’s case, not the last.” She then explained that kids who leave or are pushed from unsafe homes and families are prime targets for exploitation. Authorities also announced that several arrests were made in connection with the operation.
Some of the individuals who were taken into custody were accused of lewd and lascivious offenses involving minors, interference with child custody and resisting an officer without violence. More arrests are expected as investigations continue to move forward. After the kids were recovered, they were transported to hubs where they received medical care, behavioral-health services, child-welfare support and victim advocacy.
A total of seven hubs were established from Pensacola to Miami, including one that was supported by St. Mary’s Medical Center in Palm Beach County. FDLE was in charge of the operation, but worked alongside other agencies such as the Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Department of Children and Families, Department of Juvenile Justice, BayCare, More to Life and the Florida Human Trafficking Victims Fund.
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Rep. Danny Alvarez spoke about the success of the operation, saying, “The results of this combined law-enforcement operation should make one thing very clear: Florida will never tolerate you harming our children. To every sick person in this society who even tries it, if you think you got away with it you should keep looking over your shoulder every second of your life because we’re coming, and we will never rest in order to protect our children and their futures.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video