Posted on 04/28/2006 12:14:32 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
A man charged with raping an Escondido teenager 10 years ago was among more than 9,000 fugitives arrested last week in a 27-state roundup of people wanted by law enforcement, authorities said yesterday.
In addition, 193 San Diego and Imperial County fugitives, including five murder suspects, were also swept up in the local roundup.
The effort, dubbed Operation Falcon II, focused on people wanted for sex crimes but also found men and women wanted on homicide, drug and other charges, including 194 in San Diego and Imperial counties. Some failed to appear after being granted bail, others failed to stay in touch with authorities, as a judge ordered them after they were convicted.
“Rarely are they where they're supposed to be,” said Mark Owen, acting chief deputy U.S. Marshal for San Diego, who said the local fugitive task force arrests about 50 people in a typical week.
The concentrated search for people wanted for federal, state and local crimes “targeted the worst of the worst,” Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said yesterday at a Washington news conference announcing the results of “Operation Falcon II.”
The operation, conducted April 17-23 and timed to coincide with National Victims Rights Week, netted 1,102 sex offenders, he said.
The Escondido man, 37-year-old Primo Montes, was initially arrested in 1996 and charged with raping and molesting a 14-year-old girl with another man at least three times, authorities said.
But he jumped bail and fled to Mexico while he was awaiting trial, said Acting U.S. Marshal Steve C. Stafford.
Authorities heard he was returning to Escondido to visit his pregnant wife and arrested him April 18, 10 years to the day they say the molestations began.
Also arrested locally was Joaquin Pliego, 43, charged with the sexual assault of a 6-year-old.
“He will now face our justice system, and the victim and her family will sleep better,” said San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
In San Diego and Imperial counties, the dragnet arrested six fugitives wanted for violent sexual offenses and five for failing to register as sex offenders, authorities said.
In addition to the five murder suspects, eight were picked up for weapons charges, 124 for drug offenses and 45 on various other charges.
Nationally, nearly 80,000 fugitives were arrested last year, just under half by the Marshals Service and the rest by state and local police working with federal authorities. More than 10,000 of those arrests came during a similar nationwide sweep last year.
The operations in the past two years produced roughly 10 times the average number of weekly arrests, but even that barely dents the fugitive caseload. The FBI database contains names of a million fugitives. The director of the Marshals Service, John Clark, said yesterday that a “few million fugitives” are in the United States, most wanted on state and local charges.
The agency spent $531,000 on the weeklong exercise, most of it to pay overtime to local and state police, said David Dimmitt, chief deputy U.S. Marshal. More than 2,100 officers from 786 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies took part.
A second phase, targeting the Eastern United States, will take place in the coming months, Gonzales said
In addition to the arrests in the United States, the effort also led to the arrests of four people in Mexico and one each in Belize, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, from where a child abducted by a parent was returned to the United States, authorities said.
WOW...the arrests of a whole four people in Mexico.
The Escondido man, 37-year-old Primo Montes, was initially arrested in 1996 and charged with raping and molesting a 14-year-old girl with another man at least three times, authorities said.
Because "family values don't stop at the Rio Grande"
While I'm sure someone thinks this makes for good PR, I find it disgusting. Of course these sickos aren't where they're supposed to be; they're supposed to be behind bars. They were supposed to be behind bars a long, long time ago but instead the LE was twiddling it's thumbs to... what... wait until they pinpointed NINE THOUSAND to nab in one fell swoop??? Here's a concept, how about rounding them up one at a time in a more timely manner before they molest and murder more innocent people.
TX: Law enforcement officers arrest 148 in Valley
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=70497_0_10_0_C
Thanks!
Seattle and the Bay Area also had similar numbers rounded up.
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