In Ohio, the United States Marshals Service found around twenty-five missing kids in a 2-weeks stretch, which is the part of the operation in the Buckeye State.
During Tuesday’s news meeting, Gov. Mike DeWine said that the United States Marshals, over the weekend, recovered dozens of lost kids across Ohio, and several of them were being trafficked.
Marshals Service says that ‘Operation Safety Net’ is currently in the first 2 weeks and also going on. Moreover, the operation is being made out with the help of local law enforcement forces near Northern Ohio.
Operation Safety Net recovered 25 missing children in its first two weeks, and the sting is continuing right now: https://t.co/0Oz8jiqJ26
— U.S. Marshals (@USMarshalsHQ) August 31, 2020
DeWine defined it as a great, great struggle, and even just some of the kids were supposed to be victims of human trafficking, he summoned all residents to identify and submit a sign report of it.
He added that people include a young man who frequently runs away, individuals who usually run, a young man with somebody who is unrelated and older, or indications of physical abuse, in other indicators.
Missing children recovered from different locations
Those kids were missing for different reasons, and kids were rescued from different places, and around a quarter of those children were supposed to be victims of forced prostitution or kids trafficking.
Moreover, the operation is mainly focusing on victims in Northern Ohio, but agencies have rescued at least 1 child from Florida. The United States Marshal Pete Elliot described to WOIO that sometimes the conditions they, they go to, believe or not, could be better than the conditions they left from. He continued that they have had a few cases where the father or mother, or maybe both, have been prostituting with their own kid.
Above ninety percent of lost kids in America are recognized as endangered runaways or kids under eighteen who run away from their own homes on their own, said the National Center for Missing & Exploited. But in this percentage, those children even included who run out with mental health or special needs situations, or tempted by online predators, or forced prostitution or victims avoiding sex trafficking at their own homes.
According to the center, in 2019, around 23,500 runaways confirmed that they were likely to be the victims of child sex trafficking. Furthermore, there was a news arrived that the Marshals’ task force recovered thirty-nine missing children from various places in Georgia in Operation Not Forgotten.