Federal marshals pulled 79 missing and endangered children to safety in what officials are calling the largest operation of its kind in Ohio history.
The effort, known as Operation Meridian, ran throughout August and recovered children between the ages of 6 and 17. Cases ranged from suspected sex trafficking and abuse to neglect, runaways, and other dangerous situations. The month-long operation was centered in Ohio but extended as far as Georgia.
The U.S. Marshals Service led the effort alongside federal, state, and local law enforcement partners. Investigators worked cases connected to Akron, Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, and other communities across the state. Agents from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General also participated.
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U.S. Marshal Michael Black said the operation drew on the same tactics used to hunt violent fugitives. “The United States Marshals Service, through its fugitive task forces, locates and arrests the most violent fugitives in our communities,” Black said. “Using the same resources and methods we have the ability to seek and recover missing and endangered children.”
As originally reported, one of the most disturbing cases involved two sisters, ages 13 and 16, reported missing in July 2024 and April 2026, respectively. Investigators found the younger girl hidden inside a basement crawlspace, concealed beneath the floor of a bedroom closet at a home in Lockbourne. Their mother was taken into custody on an outstanding Franklin County warrant for a probation violation.
Details gathered during that recovery helped officers find the older sister later the same day at a Columbus restaurant on Harrisburg Pike. Authorities did not disclose why the girls had been reported missing or whether anyone faced charges directly tied to their disappearance. The mother’s arrest stemmed solely from the existing warrant.
A separate case began August 18th, when Toledo police reported a 16-year-old girl missing. She had previously been identified as a human trafficking victim. Toledo police and the Marshals Service-led SPEAR Unit pursued leads in both Ohio and Michigan. Officers identified an adult male believed to be with her and located the pair at an address on Woodward Avenue in Toledo. The girl was transported to a hospital for evaluation. Investigators interviewed the man at the scene, but no arrest or charge against him was announced. Local law enforcement was still investigating potential criminal activity when the operation’s results were made public.
The effort also drew support from Amanda Berry, the Cleveland woman who escaped in 2013 after being held captive for roughly a decade by Ariel Castro. Berry spoke to participating officers before the operation launched. She urged them to treat every case with the same urgency they would want shown if the missing person were someone from their own family. Berry has since become an advocate for missing children and has worked previously with law enforcement on disappearance cases.
