US Marshals Big Fugitive Bust Highlights Size of Crime Threat
December 1, 2006

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

Nearly 11,000 sex offenders, gang members and other fugitives were swept up in what the Justice Department called a sting targeting the “worst of the worst” criminals on the run.

The Nov. 2 roundup, led by the US Marshals Service, included Allen Marksberry, an unregistered sex offender in Rickman, TN, who was baby-sitting several young children when he was arrested on Oct. 24.

Also nabbed were Demetrius Avery Jackson, an accused cop killer in Birmingham, AL, and Eric Dewayne Meneese, a Crips gang member, in Nashville, TN.

The weeklong sting, code-named Operation Falcon III, also led to the shooting death of a Georgia fugitive who was killed by authorities as he came out of his house, officials said. Additionally, the neighbor of a fugitive in Florida fired—but missed—police approaching her home. Both incidents are under investigation, said John F. Clark, director of the Marshals Service.

The roundup, in 24 states east of the Mississippi River, targeted “the worst of the worst fugitive felons in the country,” Attorney General Albert Gonzales said at a Washington news conference, reported by NewsMax.com Wires and Associated Press.

“America’s neighborhoods are safer today, thanks to Operation Falcon III,” Gonzales said.

Two earlier stings—Falcons I and II—were held in April over the last two years. Gonzales and Clark denied that the Nov. 7 elections played any part in scheduling the latest crackdown.

“I can assure you that the coordination of getting 3,000-plus officers and agents, and everybody together to do this, just takes a lot of coordination,” Clark said, adding that he wanted to do the roundup in the fall—before the winter weather hit.

In all, Gonzales said officials caught 10,733 fugitives—including 1,659 sex offenders, 364 gang members and thousands of others sought on kidnapping, robbery, burglary, carjacking and weapons charges. More than 230 weapons were seized.

Only a Fraction
Those totals represent a fraction of doors knocked on, liquor store drive-bys, construction site surveillances and tips chased down by agents during the weeklong sweep. Finding the fugitives—even at their homes in the early-morning hours—proved to be a hit-or-miss mission for the federal, state and local authorities.

A six-hour sting in Washington, DC, the previous week, for example, netted none of the accused drug dealers sought by a team of seven agents from the US Marshals, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), State Department and the city’s Metropolitan Police Department.

“He was there a week or so ago,” muttered Marshals Inspector Robert Hoffmaster, after a pre-daybreak search of a house for an accused drug dealer.

In upstate New York, some fugitives tried to hide in unusual places.

“We grabbed one guy out of the shower,” said Joe Ciccarelli, supervisor of the US Marshals fugitive task force in New York’s northern district. “We found people hiding in between insulation, rolled up in rugs, inside of cabinets, inside of closets that a person shouldn’t be able to fit in, but they end up fitting in and we have had to call the fire department to get them out.”

Of the sex offenders nabbed, 971 had failed to register with authorities as required by law—what Gonzales called the largest number ever captured in a single law enforcement effort.
2006 Law

Gonzales said prosecutors likely would seek to charge some of them under the 2006 Adam Walsh Act. That law, approved by Congress last summer, created federal penalties for sex offenders who fail to register with communities.

The law was named for six-year-old Adam Walsh, who was abducted from a Florida shopping mall and murdered in 1981.

Falcon III showed the Marshals “have proven their extraordinary ability to quickly capture thousands of sexual predators,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Normally, the Marshals regional task forces round up about 1,000 fugitives each week, officials said. However, an estimated 1 million fugitives are on the loose nationwide at any given time in spite of continuing week-to-week round-ups that net about 1,000 fugitives a week.

About 10% of those taken into custody in the Nov. 2 “worst of the worst” round-up have sexual crime or crimes histories, and that means that about 100,000 on the loose could also be sexual predators of one sort or another.

In this issue of Gun Week, we have a story about students at Rhode Island University (RIU) in Providence who were getting some criticism for trying to organize and promote avoidance, self-defense and other classes to help female students who are at risk on campus. Guns became the hot topic, whether licensed or unlicensed.

This is a subject that keeps surfacing on campuses across the country even though little is done proactively by academic officials, who seem to be solidly against resisting criminals or defending oneself effectively. It’s the upper-graduate version of the “gun-free (victim rich) school zone.”

A related case brought by the University of Utah is on appeal to a higher court at the moment because the academics lost the first court round.

Minnesota
But other symptoms of the debate arise almost daily.

“The signs banning guns from Minnesota University buildings won’t be going anywhere,” began a recent story, which seemed to approve of the outcome of a student meeting.

The Minnesota Student Association Forum shot down a resolution to allow students to carry licensed handguns on campus at their Oct. 31 meeting, according to The Minnesota Daily.

MSA speaker Tom Meyer proposed a resolution in September that would allow licensed handguns on campus and clarify that pepper spray is not prohibited.

When it came time to discuss the resolution, Forum member Noah Seligman, a former Minnesota Daily sports reporter, was quick to amend the resolution, removing all references to handguns.

“I don’t think guns improve safety for anyone,” Seligman said. He also stated his disapproval of the state’s conceal and carry law.

No one offered any disagreement with Seligman’s amendment, and only Meyer, the author of the resolution, voted against the change.

“It went about as I expected,” Meyer said. “It would have been a little more fun to have some debate.”

But Meyer said he knew he was the only one in the room in favor of lifting the ban on guns.

MSA Vice President Monica Heth said she expected the resolution allowing guns to fail.

“I didn’t think firearms would be allowed,” she said. “But I thought there would be some discussion. I was a little disappointed there weren’t more comments.”

The vote by the Forum reflected University President Bob Bruininks’ statements from a mid-October meeting, during which he said the resolution wouldn’t receive support from the administration or the Board of Regents.

Forum members also mentioned Bruininks’ statement as a reason for voting against the resolution.

The resolution, however, did pass with the proposal to change the Student Conduct Code to specify that pepper spray is allowed on campus. The change would clarify the current wording that might make students think pepper spray is prohibited.

“(As is,) people could interpret pepper spray as a dangerous weapon and that reading would prevent them from carrying it on campus,” Meyer said.

The grudging acceptance of pepper sprays and other chemical defense items might be acceptable, or at least a step in the right direction.

But it misses a citizen’s duty to other probable future victims. Such an approach may give the intended victim room to run, but it also gives the attacker similar freedom of movement.

Maybe that’s one reason why the US Marshals always have a ready supply of fugitives.
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