200 missing kids found in national operation, and some are from Arizona
PHOENIX - A six-week national operation found 200 missing children across the U.S., including children from Arizona.
Operation We Will Find You 2 (OWWFY2) is the second of its kind. The operation spanned May 20 to June 24.
A news release from the Department of Justice 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. Of the 200 children found, 173 were endangered runaways, 25 were considered otherwise missing, one was a family abduction, and one was a non-family abduction. The youngest child recovered was five months old. 14 of the children were found outside the city where they went missing. Additionally, of the missing children recovered, 57% were recovered within seven days of the USMS assisting with the case."
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 U.S. Marshals Service targeted areas that had a high cluster of missing endangered children.
In Arizona, there were 33 recoveries and 16 locates.
"We know that it's a 16-year-old female out of the Phoenix greater area that unfortunately looks like was trafficked in Los Angeles and then in Miami and then she was recovered in Michigan. All of that was through the work efforts of Marshals Service and our partner agencies following her from missing in Arizona, out to Los Angeles, down to Miami and then in Michigan," explained Van Bayless of the U.S. Marshals Service District of Arizona.
That case is still being investigated.
Of the 49 cases in Arizona, investigators believe eight were very likely victims of trafficking.