Berlin Police Department Aided FBI In Nationwide Human Trafficking Sting

When the FBI put into motion Operation Cross Country VII, it asked for help from local law enforcement agencies to pull off the plan. The Berlin Police Dept. was one of those agencies.

During the operation, the FBI recovered five juveniles in Connecticut, including one from Groton, who are victims of sex trafficking operations.

In the past three days, the FBI, its local, state and federal law enforcement partners and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recovered 105 children victims and arrested 150 pimps during a three-day recovery effort called Operation Cross Country VII, the FBI stated in a news release. 

"We were there to assist them but we did not find any underage human trafficking in Berlin," Deputy Chief John Klett said. "We made one arrest but it had nothing to do with what they were looking for. Our arrest was a prostitution arrest." 

Berlin Police arrested Amanda Roy, 26, of 229 Meetinghouse Lane in Middletown for Prostitution. She was arrested after agreeing to perform sex acts for payment during the undercover operation in conjunction with the FBI. 

“Child prostitution remains a persistent threat to children across America,” said Ron Hosko, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, in the news release. “This operation serves as a reminder that these abhorrent crimes can happen anywhere, and the FBI remains committed to stopping this cycle of victimization and holding the criminals who profit from this exploitation accountable.”

Klett said that four Berlin officers aided the FBI in the undercover operation. 

Operation Cross Country is part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative that was established in 2003 by the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, in partnership with the Department of Justice and NCMEC, to address the growing problem of child prostitution, the news release states.

To date, the FBI and its task force partners have recovered more than 2,700 children from the streets. The investigations and subsequent 1,350 convictions have resulted in lengthy sentences, including 10 life terms and the seizure of more than $3.1 million in assets, according to the release.

The Berlin Turnpike has long been thought of as a passage of human trafficking and has had books written about it like The Berlin Turnpike: A True Story of Human Trafficking in America.  

The Berlin Patch also did an in-depth report about prostitution on the Berlin Turnpike from Meriden to Newington. 

For more information:

Read the full press release here.