New Orleans, LA – U.S. Marshals Service Eastern District of
Louisiana New Orleans Task Force (USMS)-led, operations Missing Child
Unit (MCU) ‘Return of the School Year’ and Sex Offender Investigations
Branch (SOIB) ‘NO Saints and Sinners 2021’ conducted in the New Orleans,
Louisiana metro area ran from August 01st until September 30, 2021,
resulting in the rescue or recovery of 8 missing/endangered children. An
additional 3 children self-returned during the operation and 3 more were
located. MCU Investigations led to recoveries in Phoenix, Arizona where
a female teen was in route to Las Vegas, NV to meet up with an older
adult male she met on the internet. Two recoveries were made in a rural
area of southern Mississippi. One arrest was made in St. Bernard Parish
involving an adult family member of the missing/endangered teen. A rifle
stolen out of New Orleans was recovered in Tangipahoa Parish on August
27th during one of the MCU investigations that also involves possible
gang activity. Investigations as part of the two-month MCU operation
also uncovered allegations of human sex trafficking of minors during
several of the cases.
The USMS SOIB Operation NO Saints and
Sinners 2021, a sex offender enforcement and compliance check operation
resulted in the arrests of 18 sex offenders for sex offender
registration violations. 46 sex offender compliance checks were done
during the operation with 33 verified compliant, 3 verified as being
noncompliant, and 10 needing further investigation. These checks were
done in both Jefferson and Orleans Parishes. One sex offender, Joseph
Edward Cantrell, who had been in violation of his registration in
Georgia since at least 2017 and having three prior convictions involving
children was located living in the Central Business District of New
Orleans and was arrested on a LA State Police felony warrant for Failure
to Register as a Sex Offender. Another lifetime registration sex
offender from Delaware, Roman E. Byler, having two prior felony
sex-based convictions with juveniles was located unregistered and living
in New Orleans on August 23 in a high drug trafficking area walking with
another male with a history of criminal activities. Byler was wanted out
of Delaware on an August 2021 felony warrant related to cutting off his
Electronic Monitor (EM) and fleeing his Delaware Probation based on a
prior DE conviction for Rape 4th Degree Sexual Penetration of a Victim
less than 16 years of age. Fugitive Tier 3 sex offender, Gerald
Dominick, who’s original sex-based conviction involved a female teenage
victim was wanted on a LA State Police warrant for felony Failure to
Register as a Sex Offender issued in July 2020. Dominick was residing in
Westwego, LA and attempted to hide in a bedroom prior to his arrest by
LA State Police. Information developed by the USMS Sex Offender
Targeting Team assisted LA State Police in locating him.
Additionally, the SOIB operation resulted in the
arrest of six (6) additional fugitives to include an adult male wanted
by New Orleans Police on a September 2021 warrant for Sexual Battery on
a 7 year old victim, another adult male on a New Orleans Police
Department warrant for 2 counts of Production of Child Porn on a 14 year
old female victim that was related to a prior USMS MCU case, and an
adult male on a July 2021 Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Capias
based on a Grand Jury Indictment for Aggravated Rape and Aggravated
Kidnapping that occurred in 1989 but the suspect was recently identified
via a DNA hit. That fugitive had recently been released from prison and
was already considered a habitual offender and lifetime sex offender
registration (Tier 3) based on a prior Forcible Rape and Burglary
conviction.
New Orleans was one of the original U.S. cities to
begin a USMS pilot program for the Missing Child Unit in 2016, and U.S.
Marshals Service Eastern District of Louisiana Deputy U.S. Marshals have
provided instruction to other USMS districts and state agencies on how
to coordinate their MCU operations, which have gained national news
attention within the last two years.
The Justice for Victims of
Trafficking Act of 2015 enhanced USMS authority to assist federal,
state, and local law enforcement with the recovery of missing,
endangered or abducted children, regardless of whether a fugitive or sex
offender was involved. The USMS established its Missing Child Unit to
oversee and manage the implementation of its enhanced authority under
the act. In fiscal year (FY) 2021, the USMS New Orleans Task Force
recovered 43 missing/endangered children or family abductions. An
additional 16 children self-returned during the investigation and 5
children were recovered via other efforts.
“This was another
example of the results that can be accomplished with continuing law
enforcement teamwork, and I am very proud of the long-term partnerships
created by our USMS New Orleans Task Force with other local, state and
federal agencies in combating violent crime and recovering
missing/endangered children, said U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District
of Louisiana Scott Illing. “Much of this work was also accomplished
while dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in the New Orleans
metro area.”
Participants in the two Operations: “Return of the
School Year” and “NO Saints and Sinners 2021” included:
-
U.S. Marshals Service New Orleans Task Force
-
U.S. Marshals Service Districts of Southern
Mississippi and Arizona -
New Orleans Police Department
-
Slidell Police Department
-
Covington Police Department
-
Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office
-
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office
-
Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office
-
Louisiana State Police
-
FBI New Orleans Field Office
-
Louisiana Department of Child and Family
Services
Any information about missing/endangered children
should be reported to your local police department and or the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-The-Lost. Information
about violent fugitives can be provided to the U.S. Marshals Service at
(504) 589-6872, via email at
usms.wanted@usdoj.gov, or with the
USMS tips app.
Crimestoppers GNO may also be contacted with tips at (504) 822-1111.
Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found
at http://www.usmarshals.gov.
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America’s
First Federal Law Enforcement Agency