Over six weeks in May and June, federal and local authorities teamed up in seven districts, including North Carolina's Eastern District. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, their efforts in North Carolina focused on 12 counties (New Hanover, Brunswick, Harnett, Onslow, Pitt, Wake, Johnston, Robeson, Cumberland, Sampson, Nash, and Pender).
"Before the operation started, we had approximately 50 open cases as it relates to missing and endangered children," said Glenn M. McNeill, Jr., U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of North Carolina, in a pre-produced video included in the press release.
Of the 200 children found nationally, 123 were involved in dangerous situations, 173 were endangered runaways, and 57% were recovered within seven days of the U.S. Marshal's involvement.
"We're not a government organization. We're not law enforcement. It does allow people to call in and report information to us, and we do definitely get information from individuals who are not as comfortable going to law enforcement," said Angela Aufmuth, Executive Director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Analytical Services Division.
NCMEC assisted law enforcement in tracking down more than 30 kids as part of this operation.
"Everything that we have at our disposal as far as like the different analytical tools that we have access to, like public records and then also open source like social media and really digging into and trying to identify where this child might be, where these individuals that the child might be with might be as well," said Aufmuth.
Last year, NCMEC worked on nearly 29,000 cases of missing children.
"We're able to then be that be that conduit and that that clearinghouse. So in taking that information and then making sure that that lead information goes out to the field, to the appropriate law enforcement agencies to be able to investigate," Aufmuth explained.
One case highlighted by the Department of Justice involved a missing one-year-old in Raleigh. According to the release, on "April 29, the child was reported missing to Raleigh Police after her mother neglected to surrender her to the Department of Social Services (DSS). The RPD requested assistance from the USMS in finding the missing child. The child's mother was previously convicted for her actions in the strangulation, assault, and death of one of her children, a four-year-old boy. Additionally, she was wanted on a felony probation violation on the original charge of cruelty toward a child.
On May 15, USMS personnel and RPD personnel arrested the child's mother without incident in Raleigh. The missing one-year-old was safely recovered in Raleigh by an investigator with the USMS and handed over to DSS custody."
A spokesperson for Raleigh Police said this is "an ongoing investigation," and the warrant in this case for 33-year-old Kimberly Boykin was taken out by the U.S. Marshals Service. ABC 11 reached out to the Department of Justice for comment, but have not heard back.
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