Over 120 missing or endangered Central Florida children are now home for the holidays following a two-week multi-agency operation that spanned from Tampa Bay to Fort Myers.<\/p>\n
Detectives from the St. Petersburg Police Department participated in the historic two-week initiative, dubbed Operation Home for the Holidays. The U.S. Marshals Service<\/a> and a diverse array of federal, state, local and non-governmental partners celebrated the mission\u2019s success Monday.<\/p>\n The collaborative effort resulted in the recovery of 122 children ranging in age from 2 to 17. At least one was pregnant and subsequently received prenatal care for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cMany have been through the unthinkable,\u201d said Florida Attorney General James Uthmeierr. \u201cThey\u2019ve been trafficked. They\u2019ve been exploited. They\u2019ve been abused.\u201d<\/p>\n Uthmeier said the task force worked proactively to ensure the recovered children immediately received medical care and rehabilitative services. Partner agencies will continue offering that help and \u201cfind them homes where they are loved, where they are protected and where they will be empowered to lead successful lives.\u201d<\/p>\n The task force located 57 vulnerable youth missing from Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough Counties. Operation Home for the Holidays also led to the rescue of 14 children from the Orlando metropolitan area, 22 from Jacksonville and 29 from Fort Myers.<\/p>\n Yolanda Fernandez, community awareness division manager, said the St. Petersburg Police Department \u201cidentified five runaway juveniles as targets for recovery.\u201d They were all found within the operation\u2019s first week.<\/p>\n SPPD<\/a> detectives also helped outside agencies rescue three children who were \u201cknown to be in St. Petersburg.\u201d Police Chief Anthony Holloway noted the initiative\u2019s local benefits.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough this multi-agency operation, our detectives were able to search for missing and runaway youth without jurisdictional barriers,\u201d Holloway told the Catalyst. \u201cThis collaboration strengthened our ability to locate and recover endangered teens quickly, while ensuring they received the support and resources needed for their safety and well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Marshal Bill Berger said his agency deemed the operation \u201cmission critical,\u201d which allowed it to receive federal funding during the government shutdown. Authorities located one child in Mexico, one in Guatemala and 11 in other states.<\/p>\n Six adults now face felony charges for child neglect, custodial interference, narcotics possession, sexual assault, terroristic threats and endangerment. Berger said agencies would make additional arrests \u201cin the very near future.\u201d<\/p>\n He noted that the U.S. Marshals Service\u2019s Middle District of Florida<\/a> ensures recovered children receive critical services immediately. \u201cIt makes sense to build these operations alongside like-minded partners from across the child welfare space,\u201d Berger said.<\/p>\n The 200-person task force included the FBI, 11 sheriff\u2019s offices, four police departments, four state agencies and 25 community partners. Berger called that \u201cby far the largest combination of sworn and non-sworn, non-governmental organizations in the history of child recovery operations.\u201d<\/p>\n Operation Home for the Holidays expanded upon best practices and lessons learned from Operation Dragon Eye.<\/a> The previous initiative resulted in the recovery of 60 critically missing Tampa Bay children, including 11 from St. Petersburg, in June.<\/p>\n