The stings took place in hotels, casinos, truck stops and on social media.
In just four days, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement partners in the U.S. and abroad, recovered 84 sexually exploited minors and arrested 120 traffickers.
The FBI and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Operation announced Wednesday the results of Operation Cross Country XI. The goal of the yearly operation is to identify and recover children caught up in sex trafficking.
The latest operation ended Oct. 15 and involved 55 FBI field offices, 78 FBI-led Child Exploitation Task Forces made up of more than 500 law enforcement agencies.
A press release from the FBI detailed a disturbing case in Denver. The Rocky Mountain Innocence Task Force recovered a 3-month-old girl and her five-year-old sister. The girls had been offered up for sex by a friend staying with the family. The friend was arrested after making a deal with an undercover task force officer to sell the girls into the sex trade for $600.
Last year, the same operation led to the recovery of 82 sexually exploited children and the arrests of 239 people.
In all, more than 6,500 children have been recovered since 2003. The FBI said countless traffickers have been arrested, more than 30 of whom are serving life sentences for their crimes.
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This year, Operation Cross Country took place with the help of law enforcement partners in Canada, the United Kingdom, Cambodia and the Philippines.
The FBI field office in Denver planned a press conference for 3pm Wednesday to discuss the results of Operation Cross Country XI.
