We have been praying and posting on social media Save Our Children for awhile now and it looks like those prayers are being answered in a big way!
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has just announced in a press conference that over 157 missing children have been rescued in a sting called “Operation Carolina Homecoming”
Operation Carolina Homecoming was led by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department who worked alongside the U.S. Marshalls.
Most of the children rescued were victims of prostitution, human trafficking or involved with drugs.
Capt. Joe McNelly of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said that they are taking the human trafficking cases very “seriously” and said a more in depth investigation behind the human trafficking ring involved is underway.
OPERATION CAROLINA HOMECOMING: More than 150 missing or runaway children were found. Some of the children were victims of human trafficking or engaged in other high-risk activities. https://t.co/KGeKHkKFbd
— WCNC Charlotte (@wcnc) May 19, 2021
150+ missing children found in North Carolina operation
ttps://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/crime/operation-carolina-homecoming-rescues-children-human-trafficking-drug-rings/275-b138ce47-2da4-4750-813d-39329f89a256 pic.twitter.com/DlYfhHX1ui— NEWS CENTER Maine (@newscentermaine) May 20, 2021
WCNC had more on the story:
More than 150 missing and runaway children were rescued safely as part of a joint effort between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and federal agents called Operation Carolina Homecoming.
According to CMPD, some of the juveniles rescued were engaged in drug activity and prostitution or victims of human trafficking. The months-long investigation focused on the recovery of missing and runaway juveniles in the Charlotte area where previous efforts to find them were unsuccessful.
“Kids don’t need to be living alone in hotels, kids don’t need to be living alone with an older partner,” CMPD Captain Joel McNelly said.
CMPD said more than 130 children were recovered before the operation began. Between April 26 and May 7, two-person teams consisting of CMPD’s Missing Person Unit detectives, U.S. Marshals and Department of Public Safety officers located 27 more missing juveniles.
McNelly reported these 27 critically missing kids had been missing anywhere from six months to over a year and some did not want to be found.
“These kids were engaged in high-risk activities,” McNelly said. “Not to sugar coat anything but narcotics activities, human trafficking, prostitution.”
Hundreds of teenagers are safe as a result of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Missing Person’s Unit operation.https://t.co/dbGSVVJmOK
— News 12 (@wcti12) May 19, 2021
Newsweek covered the big story too:
More than 150 missing children have been recovered in 2021 as part of an extensive police operation in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area.
During a press conference on Wednesday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) confirmed that it had recovered at least 157 runaway and missing juveniles as part of a search called “Operation Carolina Homecoming.”
The department said that its Missing Persons Unit had recovered more than 130 children in the first four months of the year, according to the Charlotte Observer, before finding an additional 27 between April 26 and May 7.
During the 11-day operation, “two-person teams of CMPD’s Missing Person Unit detectives, United States Marshal Service deputies and the Department of Public Safety Missing Persons Unit” extensively searched and recovered the 27 juveniles.
The CMPD said that some of the recovered children had been involved in drugs, prostitution and human trafficking, and that many had been missing for more than six months.
“There were a few people involved in human trafficking activities and that’s something we take seriously,” Capt. Joe McNelly with CMPD’s Violent Crimes Division said.
“This is a jumping-off point to start an investigation. People who do this are looking for people, vulnerable people who have bad home lives and are looking for something else—people easily manipulated.”
As the police and Feds continue to investigate let’s hope those who were pulling the strings in the human trafficking and prostitution cases would be held accountable.
Who knows this investigation could be the start of the human trafficking cabal being exposed once and for all.
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