200 missing children found in national operation
Phoenix – The six-week national operation found 200 missing children across the US, including children from Arizona.
Operation We’ll Find You 2 (OWWFY2) is the second of its kind. The operation lasted from May 20 to June 24.
a News release from the Department of Justice It reads, in part, “With technical assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), OWWFY2 resulted in the recovery and removal of 123 children from dangerous situations. An additional 77 missing children were located and found to be in safe locations.” , according to law enforcement or child welfare agencies, 173 of the 200 children found were endangered, 25 were otherwise missing, one was a family abduction, and 14 were found outside the city where they went missing. 57% of those cases were recovered within seven days of assisting.”
The operation took place in Arizona cities such as Phoenix, Glendale, Goodyear and Tucson. Cities in California, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, New York and Oregon were also part of the operation.
The US Marshals Service targeted areas that had high clusters of at-risk missing children.
In Arizona, there were 33 recoveries and 16 layups.
“We know that she is a 16-year-old female out of the greater Phoenix area who unfortunately appears to have been trafficked in Los Angeles and then in Miami and then she was recovered in Michigan. It was all through the work efforts of the Marshals Service. And our partners “Agencies followed her from disappearance to Arizona, Los Angeles, Miami and then Michigan,” explained Van Bayless of the US Marshals Service District of Arizona.
That case is still under investigation.
Of the 49 cases in Arizona, investigators believe 8 were victims of trafficking.
Click here to read more about Operation We’ll Find You 2.