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Lafayette, LA – Yesterday afternoon at
approximately 4:00 p.m. US Marshals from Houston with assistance from
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office patrol arrested twenty-three year old
Napoleon Lopez in Conroe, Texas. Lopez was Wanted by the Lafayette Police
Department for Aggravated Rape. In December, Lopez allegedly raped a
fifteen year old girl. After the incident, Detectives with the Lafayette
Police Department (LPD) were unable to locate Lopez; on January 14th LPD
Detectives secured an Arrest Warrant against Lopez and requested the
assistance of the US Marshals Violent Offender’s Task Force (VOTF) in
Lafayette.
The day the Warrant was signed (Friday), VOTF members in Lafayette developed
credible information that Lopez was hiding in Conroe, Texas. Yesterday
morning (Saturday), VOTF members in Lafayette contacted the Gulf Coast
Violent Offenders and Fugitive Task Force (GCVO) in Houston requesting TFOs
to follow-up on the leads in Conroe. GCVO Task Force Officers in Houston
immediately responded to the leads developed; within a few hours they had
Lopez identified through surveillance, and shortly thereafter arrested Lopez
without incident. Lopez was booked at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s
Office and is awaiting Extradition back to Lafayette. Further, Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed a detainer against Lopez as he is
allegedly in the United States illegally. It should be noted that Lopez was
in handcuffs in less than twenty-four hours after the Warrant was signed.
Henry Whitehorn, the United States Marshal for the Western District of
Louisiana, said, “The coordinated effort of all law enforcement to bring
dangerous criminals to justice ensures that the streets and neighborhoods of
Louisiana are a safer place to raise our children.”
The Western District of Louisiana’s Violent Offender’s Task Force (VOTF) in
Lafayette is a team comprised of full-time law enforcement officers from the
Lafayette City Marshals, Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office, Lafayette Police
Department, St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana Probation and
Parole, and St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office. Further, VOTF calls upon
part-time TFO’s throughout its eight parish area. In 2009 VOTF in Lafayette
closed approximately 600 Warrants, most of which were violent felony
offenses. US Marshals Task Forces throughout the United States arrested
more than 73,000 state and local fugitives on felony charges.
Additional information about the U.S. Marshals can be found at
http://www.usmarshals.gov.
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