11 Children Recovered By US Marshals As Part Of Operation Summer Rescue

More than 11 runaway children have been recovered as part of the U.S. Marshal Service's Operation Summer Rescue, sponsored and funded by the agency's Missing Child Unit.

The agency announced Wednesday that the two-month operation ran from August 1 to September 30 in New Orleans and focused on missing and endangered runaways, WDSU reports. Included in the recoveries were a 16-year-old boy who authorities believed was involved in illegal gang activity and a 13-year-old girl who was rescued in Nashville with the assistance of USMS Middle District of Tennessee Task Force, Metro Nashville Police Department and the FBI New Orleans Field Office.

Authorities made several arrests during the operation, including a man arrested for aggravated statutory rape and a woman who was wanted for first-degree murder out of Mississippi for allegedly killing her 11-year-old son, Fox 8 reports. Her two other sons, aged 6 and 9, were also recovered in New Orleans East.

"This is a very important mission that the USMS has been tasked by Congress to oversee, as the safety of children across the country is paramount to this nation's future," said Scott Illing, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana. "While 11 recoveries may not seem high, this work, which is time consuming, was accomplished while also running our normal day-to-day violent felony offender investigations and sex offender fugitive operations in the district, along with our other judicial missions."

According to WDSU, the U.S. Marshal Service has recovered over 1,800 missing children since 2005.

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