| Operation Stormy Nights | |
|---|---|
| Part of "Innocence Lost" | |
| Operation name | Operation Stormy Nights |
| Part of | "Innocence Lost" |
| Type | Anti-Human-Trafficking sting operation |
| Scope | domestic |
| Participants | |
| Executed by | U.S Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| Mission | |
| Target | Human traffickers |
| Timeline | |
| Date executed | 2004 |
| Results | |
| Arrests | 12 |
| Miscellaneous results | the release of 23 female child (12-17yr) prostitutes |
Operation Stormy Nights was an early major anti-human-trafficking operation by theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).[1] Operations took place inOklahoma and brought to lightorganized crime networks trafficking femaleminors alongUnited States Numbered Highways, where the girls wereforced into prostitution to servicetruck drivers.[2]
The operation was undertaken in 2004 and resulted in the release of 23 girls fromchild prostitution.[3] Twelvepimps were arrested.[4] Most of these traffickers' victims were between 12 and 17 years of age.[5]Lieutenant Alan Prince said that operations like Stormy Nights "are difficult because the girls are always on the move... and when you find them, it's hard to talk to them."[6] Thissting operation was headed by FBI agent Mike Beaver, who was working as anundercover agent.[7]
One of the human trafficking victims rescued in Stormy Nights was a girl named Angie.[1] Beaver called Angie "a normal, typical American teenager."[7] Angie, fromWichita,Kansas, was being forced intoprostitution with another girl, Melissa, in theMidwestern United States.[8] They were both teenagers at the time.[9]
Angie was later interviewed in the documentary filmNot My Life, in which Angie explains how she and Melissa were expected to engage insexual intercourse with truck drivers at a truck stop and steal their money. Angie said that, while looking through one of these drivers' wallets, she found pictures of the man's grandchildren and realized that he was old enough to be her and Melissa's grandfather. She recounts this story disgustedly and almost crying, and says, "I wanted to die."[9] Beaver also appears in the film, saying, "It's not just truck drivers. We're seeing them purchased and abused by both white collar and blue collar individuals."[8]Robert Bilheimer, the film's director, said that Angie did not fit the stereotype for a girl at risk of being sexually trafficked: she was from theHeartland, attended aprivate school and, when her parents divorced, she beganacting out as a way ofseeking attention. A man abducted her when she was 12 years old, violated theMann Act by transporting her to another state, and began trafficking her sexually.[7] While being trafficked, Angie was expected to engage in 40 sex acts every night, charging $20 fororal sex, $40 for vaginal sex, and $80 for both.[1] Her trafficker threatened to kill her if she refused to perform these acts.[7] Bilheimer said that the truck drivers Angie was expected to service either did not know or did not want to know what would happen to her if she did not give all of the money she earned to her pimp.[10]
Another girl who was rescued in Stormy Nights, one of Angie's friends, was sent to adistrict attorney in order to facilitate the preparation of hertestimony, and the DA told the girl that he wouldn't talk to her until she had performedfellatio on him.[10] Bilheimer said that, while there is no way of being certain how many girls like Angie are being sexually trafficked, "diligent people out there have arrived at a bare minimum figure of... one hundred thousand girls, eight to fifteen [performing] ten sex acts a day", adding up to "a billion unpunished crimes of sexual violence on an annual basis." While Bilheimer interviewed Beaver at a Midwestern truck stop like the ones at which Angie was trafficked, someone wrote "Fuck you, asshole!" in the dirt on Beaver's car. Bilheimer said that this act demonstrated that many truck drivers hate law enforcement, although he said that "there are some good truckers out there,"[10] like those who are part ofTruckers Against Trafficking, anorganization opposing human trafficking by raising awareness on the subject among truck drivers.[11] When news of Stormy Nights was made public, there was a strong public response across the country, so the FBI established "Innocence Lost", a new department working to free children from prostitution.[12]