|
Clark, Nye and Washoe Counties, NV – In an
ongoing effort to make Halloween safer for the children in our communities,
Nevada Child Seekers is excited to announce that a partnership of local law
enforcement agencies and the U.S. Marshals Service are conducting “Operation
Trick-or-Treat ”, a five day joint law enforcement operation to arrest sex
offender fugitives and to ensure compliance with sex offender registration
requirements by sex offenders in Clark County and Washoe County.
This annual joint operation, a partnership of thirty five officers from eleven
city, county, state and federal agencies, is being conducted from October 24
through October 28 and its goal is to arrest as many sex offender fugitives as
possible and to conduct compliance checks on sex offenders suspected of being
out of registration compliance. With a half day still remaining, the operation
has already been a resounding success. As of Friday, 22 fugitives have been
arrested, 14 of which were sex offense related. Additionally, over 100
compliance checks were conducted and approximately 90% were found to be
compliant. This high compliance rate is excellent news and we attribute it to
the ongoing year round collective efforts of law enforcement in Nevada. Numerous
other sex offenders were located and cleared as either being compliant,
deceased, or incarcerated. Several other non-compliant sex offenders have been
located in other states and information on those offenders has been forwarded to
the local police and/or U.S. Marshals office in that state. The local law
enforcement agencies participating in this operation will follow up and initiate
investigations towards the goal of prosecuting the local non-compliant sex
offenders and the U.S. Marshals Service will initiate federal investigations
towards the goal of prosecuting the non-compliant sex offenders who crossed
state lines.
In coordination with Nevada Child Seekers, the Operation Trick-or-Treat task
force partners dedicated to this operation included the U.S. Marshals Service
including its Sex Offender Investigations Branch (SOIB), the Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department, the Henderson Police Department, the North Las
Vegas Police Department, the Nevada Department of Public Safety, the Nevada
Department of Corrections, the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, the Washoe
County Sheriff’s Office, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office the Sparks Police
Department and the Reno Police Department. “This collaboration sends the message
that we will do what is needed to protect children in our communities” said Ivet
Santiago, executive director of Nevada Child Seekers. U.S. Marshal Christopher
Hoye added, “Operation Trick or Treat is a demonstration of the law enforcement
community’s commitment to protecting the children of Nevada. We want sexual
offenders to know our commitment does not end with this joint operation. We will
continue to work year round to arrest sexual offender fugitives and to ensure
compliance with existing registration requirements. We are strongly encouraging
local sex offenders to properly register to avoid arrest and prosecution.”
The Operation Trick-or-Treat Taskforce partners and Nevada Child Seekers want
sex offenders to know that law enforcement will be out in force during the week
of Halloween to protect the children of Nevada. They also want parents to know
there are several ways to keep their children safe on Halloween. Law enforcement
is on their side, but they can also follow a few of these tips:
- Don’t allow children to go trick-or-treating
alone in neighborhoods;
- Children should never go into homes without
permission of their parents, remember the “Always Ask First” rule; and
- Teach children to “Shout Out Loud” and
scream if someone tries to trick them with special treats or tries to grab
them.
Nevada Child Seekers is a non-profit organization
created in 1985 by community leaders dedicated to locating and advocating on
behalf of missing, abducted and runaway children. Nevada Child Seekers offers
liaison services to family and law enforcement, abduction prevention education
and volunteer opportunities that promote the safety of children in our
communities. For further information about Nevada Child Seekers, please visit
www.nevadachildseekers.org. The site offers information about Nevada Child
Seekers’ programs and lists missing children and youth.
Additional information about the U.S.
Marshals Service can be found at
http://www.usmarshals.gov.
####
America’s Oldest Federal Law Enforcement Agency |
