January-February 2021 – What started as a mission to rescue a missing Florida teenager ended with officials indicting 178 individuals on charges related to human trafficking. In November 2018, Florida’s Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) began searching for the missing teen.
TPD located the girl in an online ad, and she has now worked with TPD and investigators to help bring criminals to justice. After two years, the department has charged 106 people with felonies and 72 with misdemeanors, 19 of whom face federal charges. (For more on child trafficking in the U.S., see the feature here.)
