150+ missing children found in Charlotte during operation
More than 150 missing and runaway children were rescued as part of a joint effort between Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and federal agents called Operation Carolina Homecoming. According to CMPD, some of the juveniles rescued were engaged in drug activity and prostitution or victims of human trafficking. The months-long investigation focused on the recovery of missing and runaway juveniles in the Charlotte area where previous efforts to find them were unsuccessful. “Kids don’t need to be living alone in hotels, kids don’t need to be living alone with an older partner,” CMPD Capt. Joel McNelly said.
CMPD said more than 130 children were recovered before the operation began. Two-person teams consisting of CMPD’s Missing Person Unit detectives, U.S. Marshals and Department of Public Safety officers located 27 more missing juveniles between April 26 and May 7.
McNelly reported these 27 critically missing kids had been missing anywhere from six months to over a year. Some did not want to be found.
“Kids who are actively taking measures to avoid being recovered,” McNelly said. “They’re self-sustaining, they’re trying to make money, support themselves.”
McNelly said there weren’t many positive ways for them to do that.
“These kids were engaged in high-risk activities,” McNelly said. “Not to sugar coat anything but narcotics activities, human trafficking, prostitution.”
Dr. Stacy Reynolds with Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital said they were part of the partnership and helped work with the kids after they were located. Reynolds said they found that engaging in those harmful or criminal activities wasn’t the kids’ original intent.
“Even if a kid goes out there with good intentions that they’re going to stay on the straight and narrow, it doesn’t take very long to get cold and hungry and succumb to the pressure of somebody who knows just how to time their effort into manipulate you into an activity you maybe otherwise wouldn’t have wanted to be apart of,” Reynolds said.
CMPD says the majority of the kids were 14-18 years old, with some younger. McNelly said they were trying to escape their home life.
“These kids come from traumatic backgrounds, potentially abusive households, drug and alcohol addiction, incarcerated parents,” McNelly said.
Social and health professionals are now working with the kids to help ensure they don’t fall back into that lifestyle.
“We’re proud of what we were able to do for the community through this,” McNelly said.
McNelly said investigative leads into human trafficking are now being looked into, and will hopefully lead to an arrest if warranted.
