Las Vegas Sun

February 12, 2012

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FBI busts child prostitution rings; Las Vegas teen rescued

By Mary Manning

Monday, Oct. 27, 2008 | 4:34 p.m.

FBI agents and Metro Police vice squad officers over the weekend arrested 49 people and rescued a 17-year-old Las Vegas girl while busting child prostitution rings.

In all, 600 people were arrested nationwide and 47 children were rescued under an ongoing undercover investigation dubbed Operation Cross Country 2.

Arrests occurred in 29 cities, including Las Vegas and Reno. Metro Police in Las Vegas and University of Nevada-Reno officers were involved.

Sgt. Vic Vigna, head of the Metro Police vice squad, said Las Vegas arrests involved the Internet, hotels, motels, escort services, truck stops and casinos.

Of the local arrests, 47 were adults arrested on prostitution charges, one adult was charged with pandering and one was charged with pandering and living from the earnings of a prostitute, Vigna said.

While federal, state and local law enforcement agencies were involved in the weekend arrests, Vigna said local officers have rescued 124 juveniles from prostitution activities for the year to date. In October alone, 19 juveniles were rescued, including the one in Operation Cross Country 2.

In Reno, two children were rescued and seven people were arrested.

An earlier operation in June resulted in hundreds of arrests.

FBI officials in a Washington, D.C., news conference said the latest operation shut down a dozen large prostitution rings operated at out-call services, truck stops, casinos and Web sites.

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