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Volume 3
U.S. Marshals Nat’l
Operation Nets 8,000
Fugitives
Page 18
April 2016 Edition
In order to have the greatest impact on violent crime,
Operation VR12 focused on fugitives who had three or
more prior felony arrests for crimes such as murder,
attempted murder, robbery, aggravated assault, arson,
abduction/kidnapping, weapon offenses, sexual assault,
child molestation and narcotics. Operation VR12
investigators increased their focus on fugitives accused of
sex crimes and on the recovery of missing children.
Between Feb. 1 and March 11, the U.S. Marshals Service
used its multi-jurisdictional investigative authority and
fugitive task force network to arrest 648 gang members
and others wanted on charges including 559 for homicide;
and 946 for sexual offenses. In addition, investigators
seized 463 firearms, $390,360 in currency and more than
71 kilograms of illegal narcotics. Also during the operation,
investigators recovered 17 children who had been
abducted and reported missing.
Notable arrests:
Today, Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates and U.S.
Marshals Service Deputy Director David Harlow announced
that for the second consecutive year, the U.S. Marshals
Service has conducted a high-impact national fugitive
apprehension initiative focusing on the country’s most
violent offenders. This six-week initiative, called Operation
Violence Reduction12 (Operation VR12), resulted in the
arrest of 8,075 gang members, sex offenders and other
violent criminals.
“Through Operation VR-12, over 8,000 violent fugitives who
preyed on our communities were tracked down, arrested
and put behind bars,” said Deputy Attorney General
Yates. “Thanks to the strategic and focused efforts of the
U.S. Marshals Service and their law enforcement partners,
our nation’s streets are now rid of over 500 accused
murderers, 600 gang members and nearly 1,000 sex
offenders. Fugitives initiated gun battles, forced barricaded
standoffs, assaulted officers and did everything they could
to evade arrest – but our Deputy Marshals, together with
their law enforcement partners, stood firm and succeeded
in capturing the bad guys.”
“We applied a strategically focused approach to locate and
apprehend the nation’s most dangerous fugitives,” said
Deputy Director Harlow. “By removing these violent
offenders from the streets, the communities they preyed
upon can immediately feel more secure. Operation VR12
was about using our expertise and law enforcement
partnerships to significantly impact our communities by
focusing on the worst of the worst violent criminals.”
While Operation VR12 was conducted nationwide in all 94
federal judicial districts, U.S. Marshals focused special
attention on 12 selected locations experiencing upticks in
violent crime: Baltimore; Brooklyn, New York; Camden,
New Jersey; Chicago; Compton, California; Fresno,
California; Gary, Indiana; Milwaukee; New Orleans;
Oakland, Californi