Human trafficking for the sex trade is something that most people have heard about on the news, but it really doesn’t seem to be “real.” At least one family in Stockton, CA can tell you just how real of an issue it is here in the United States, as the FBI helped to rescue their 14-year-old daughter from a life of prostitution. The sting led to the arrest of one man, charged with creating child pornography and sex trafficking.

The FBI has a task force known as the Lost Innocence Task Force that works in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies to try and track down children that are suspected of being sucked into the underground world of human trafficking.

In this particular instance, the task force discovered a picture of a missing girl on an internet website known for soliciting prostitution services. They confirmed the identity of the girl with the girl’s parents and set up a sting operation, in which the girl was rescued and her pimp was arrested.

Because both creating child pornography and human trafficking are federal crimes, a federal criminal lawyer will most certainly get involved in this case. As for the girl, her identity is being protected by law enforcement.

To date, the Lost Innocence Task Force has reportedly rescued 1,800 children and arrested 800 pimps and madams. To find out more about the work that the task force does, you can follow the link to the FBI website. As hard as it might be to believe, this is an issue that is far more prevalent within our borders than one might suspect.