Feds bust prostitution ring, rescue 69 missing kids

According to this AP article, over the course of three days, the FBI and local authorities broke up a prostitution sweep covering “dozens” of cities. In the process they arrested almost 900 people, including 100 or so alleged pimps, and rescued 69 child prostitutes who had been listed as missing.

A quote from the Examiner: “99 percent of the children were girls and many of the children have been away from their family for years.” Well, if there were only 69 kids rescued, 99 percent can’t have been girls, unless they rescued 69/100ths of a boy. I’m assuming it was probably 68 girls and one boy.

The Seattle Times says 24 of these child prostitutes and 9 of the pimps came from Seattle, and that Seattle leads the country in child prostitution. The more you know. I would have thought Las Vegas or Los Angeles or maybe New York. Closer to my own home, in Cleveland, two girls age 14 and 17 were found.

Chances are pretty good that at least some of these children were Charley Project cases. I hope they can be returned to their families and the healing can begin.

More Elizabeth Smart testimony

The Deseret News has provided the word-for-word, line-for-line testimony of Elizabeth Smart at Brian David Mitchell’s kidnapping trial.

Nancy Grace/Melinda Duckett lawsuit settled

I have written before about the lawsuit filed by Trenton Duckett‘s grandparents against talk show host Nancy Grace and her network, CNN. In a nutshell: Melinda was, and remains, the prime suspect in Trenton’s 2006 disappearance. Nancy conducted an aggressive interview with her for the show, and only hours later, Melinda killed herself. Her parents said it was the interview that pushed her over the edge. This in spite of the fact that Melinda had a documented history of instability and suicide attempts and had been hospitalized multiple times for her mental problems.

Anyway, the suit has been settled after four years of wrangling: CNN agreed to set up a $200,000 trust fund to help finance the search for Trenton. If Trenton (who would now be six years old) is found alive before the age of thirteen, whatever remains in the fund will be given to him. If he is not found by then, or if he is found dead, the fund goes to the NCMEC.

I highly doubt Trenton will be found alive, but the NCMEC is certainly a worthy cause.