Over 120 missing children were found safe during a one-day human trafficking sting in Wayne County, Michigan, authorities said.
Operation MISafeKid was conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service, Michigan State Police and several other agencies on Sept. 26. It was a missing juvenile sweep to identify and recover missing children from the area with emphasis on locating victims of sex trafficking.
Authorities began investigating all missing child cases prior to the operation. They then began investigating the children’s whereabouts by visiting last known addresses, friend’s homes and schools in hopes of finding them in a safe place.
Out of 301 files of missing children, 123 were identified and recovered safely during the operation, according to KTLA sister station WXMI in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
All of the children were interviewed about potentially being sexually victimized or used in a sex-trafficking ring during the period of time they were deemed missing.
Three cases were identified as being possible sex trafficking cases. One homeless teen was turned over to child protective services.