{"id":59139,"date":"2025-11-17T21:47:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T02:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=59139"},"modified":"2025-11-17T21:47:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T02:47:28","slug":"122-missing-endangered-florida-children-found-in-task-force-operation-operation-home-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/11\/17\/122-missing-endangered-florida-children-found-in-task-force-operation-operation-home-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"122 missing, endangered Florida children found in task force operation \u201cOperation Home for the Holidays\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-dominant-color=\"5a5b63\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #5a5b63;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"383\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/G599yElWgAAMF1J.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-59140 not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/G599yElWgAAMF1J.webp 680w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/G599yElWgAAMF1J-300x169.webp 300w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A task force comprised of local, state, and federal law enforcement groups located and recovered 122 missing and endangered Florida children, the US Marshals announced Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two-week operation, titled Home for the Holidays, spanned across central Florida and involved children belonging to the following metro areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tampa Bay \u2013 57<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Orlando \u2013 14<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jacksonville \u2013 22<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fort Myers \u2013 29<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier says an effort to rescue abused and exploited children in the Tampa Bay Area and across the state has just wrapped up with great success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;\u201cThese kids, ranging in age from 17 down to just 2 years old, many have been through the unthinkable,\u201d Uthmeier said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been trafficked. They\u2019ve been exploited. They\u2019ve been abused.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A similar operation during the summer brought in more than 60 children in the Tampa Bay area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs I said back in July, this is why we do the job,\u201d Uthmeier said. \u201cHere in Florida, everybody now knows, protecting our kids, keeping them safe, preventing them from being extorted and endangered. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOperation Home for the Holidays\u201d expanded the effort into Jacksonville, Orlando, and Fort Myers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bill Berger, United States Marshal for the Middle District of Florida, said the FBI, the FDLE and 11 sheriff\u2019s offices were all involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Berger said finding, identifying, and recovering the children is not easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat allows our Middle Florida based child recovery initiatives to stand out is the emphasis placed on what happens after. We know these children will have needs once we find them. It only makes sense to build these operations alongside like-minded partners from across the child welfare space,\u201d Berger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A news release highlighted the following cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A young pregnant female received pre-natal care for the first time<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Two brothers were provided initial care for substance dependency and are being evaluated for treatment options<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A toddler was safely located in Mexico; U.S. and Mexican authorities are coordinating a care plan that best suits the interest of the child<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A young woman who identified safety concerns to child welfare officers was voluntarily relocated and placed in a secure home<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A young man with a significant juvenile justice history was for the first time provided with services pertaining to his alleged abuse<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The operation located or recovered children from Florida and nine other states. Their ages range from 23 months to 17 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The news release said the children disclosed information that led to six felony arrests, ranging from child neglect, custodial interference, narcotics possession, sexual assault, terroristic threats, and endangerment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the children were recovered, they were given medical care and mental health counseling. Many were taken to The Children\u2019s Home Network for more care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe try to understand why they are running, what kind of placement do they want for themselves, where do they see themselves long term,\u201d said Tyra Martin-Greene with the Children\u2019s Home Network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said that after their needs are identified, the children can be placed into a safe and stable situation for long-term care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A task force comprised of local, state, and federal law enforcement groups located and recovered 122 missing and endangered Florida children, the US Marshals announced Monday. The two-week operation, titled&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMTFcL0c1OTl5RWxXZ0FBTUYxSi53ZWJwP2ZpdD02ODAlMkMzODMmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiIxMjIgbWlzc2luZywgZW5kYW5nZXJlZCBGbG9yaWRhIGNoaWxkcmVuIGZvdW5kIGluIHRhc2sgZm9yY2Ugb3BlcmF0aW9uIFx1MjAxY09wZXJhdGlvbiBIb21lIGZvciB0aGUgSG9saWRheXNcdTIwMWQiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.7fwwZAjICGCSX13c-kWDOPNUXXZyg80Q_qKxpdCr6vsMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":59140,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/G599yElWgAAMF1J.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[12616,12617],"class_list":["post-59139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-122-missing","tag-endangered-florida-children-found-in-task-force-operation-operation-home-for-the-holidays"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59141,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59139\/revisions\/59141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}