Florida officials announced that more than 120 missing children were recovered during a two-week anti-child-exploitation operation called "Operation Home for the Holidays."
Six people were arrested in what Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier described as the "largest child rescue mission in history."
"One hundred twenty-two children and youth are now safe, which is a win for our state," Florida Department of Law Enforcement Deputy Commissioner Vaden Pollard said Monday at a Tampa press conference alongside Uthmeier and other agency representatives.
The two-week operation, led by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, rescued 122 Florida children from major metro areas, including 57 from Tampa Bay, 14 from Orlando, 22 from Jacksonville, and 29 from Fort Myers.
Bill Berger, U.S. marshal for the Middle District of Florida, said that 13 minors were located and recovered outside Florida, including two found internationally in Mexico and Guatemala.
"These kids, ranging in age from 17 down to just 2 years old, many have been through the unthinkable," Uthmeier told reporters. "They've been trafficked. They've been exploited. They've been abused."
Berger emphasized the program's focus on aftercare to support victims once they are found.
"What allows our Middle Florida-based child-recovery initiatives to stand out is the emphasis placed on what happens after," Berger told reporters.
"We know these children will have needs once we find them. It only makes sense to build these operations alongside like-minded partners from across the child welfare space," he added.
"As I said back in July, this is why we do the job," Uthmeier said at the press conference. "Here in Florida, everybody now knows, protecting our kids, keeping them safe, preventing them from being extorted and endangered. That's what it's all about."
Berger described the effort as a multiagency, multistate operation and said that those arrested were all adults facing charges ranging from lewd and lascivious conduct to multiple counts of sexual battery. He added that agencies expect additional arrests in the coming weeks.
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