Overview
- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Tuesday, Aug. 25 that Operation Statewide Shield recovered 163 missing children aged 2 months to 17 during a five-day mid‑August effort.
- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement led the multi-agency operation that ran sub-operations across Pensacola, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Fort Myers and Miami and extended to other U.S. states, Puerto Rico and more than a dozen countries.
- Three men have been arrested so far on charges including lewd and lascivious acts, lewd and lascivious battery, interference with child custody, and resisting officers, and officials say multiple investigations remain open with further arrests expected.
- Recovered children were transported to designated recovery hubs for immediate medical care, welfare checks, and advocacy services; some were reunited with family while others were placed in foster care and cases were documented in the Missing and Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse.
- The operation drew on U.S. Marshals models and involved state agencies, local sheriffs, federal partners and nonprofit service providers, a partnership officials say could change how Florida locates missing children and pursues prosecutions going forward.