AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — The Aurora Police Department, U.S. Marshals District of Colorado and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recovered 11 endangered missing children during a two-week operation earlier this month.
During “Operation Lost and Found,” the agencies worked together from Nov. 7 – 18 in order to locate and/or recover 11 critically endangered missing children. One adult was arrested for alleged interference with a custodial order during the operation, the Marshals Service said in a release.
The Colorado Department of Human Services worked with APD to return the children to their respective homes or decide if they needed other placements.
The children, ages 12 to 17, had all been reported missing to local law enforcement, then passed on to the National Crime Information Center database and NCMEC. The operation was a culmination of months of collaboration among the agencies along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigations and Homeland Security Investigations.
The Marshals Service said the children “were considered to be some of the most at-risk and challenging recovery cases in the area, based on indications of high-risk factors such as victimization of child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sex abuse, physical abuse and medical or mental health conditions.”
The operation was the first conducted in the state of Colorado dedicated to missing children by the U.S. Marshals Service.
“As the Marshals continue to develop our Missing Child Unit, we will continue to support state and local law enforcement partners in locating and reunifying missing and exploited children with their families,” Kirk Taylor, U.S. Marshal for the District of Colorado said.
Previous operation included children from Colorado:
Homeland Security Investigations completed a multi-agency operation from the end of April through mid-May this year locating and recovering 70 missing children. Some were found in Colorado but the majority were discovered in Texas.
The missing children ranged in age from 10-17 and included victims of sex trafficking and physical and sexual abuse.
