Crimestoppers GNO and U.S. Marshals New Orleans Task Force Operation Boo Dat Results in 38 Arrests and an Endangered Child Recovery for Florida

New Orleans, LA – Crimestoppers GNO (Greater New Orleans) and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) New Orleans Task Force sponsored their annual Operation Boo Dat 2025 from Oct. 16, 2025, to Jan. 17, 2026.  

The operation was a partnership between New Orleans Police Department, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana Probation and Parole, Homeland Security Investigations, and USMS Eastern District of Louisiana’s (E/LA) New Orleans Task Force and resulted in 38 arrests, with 12 of the arrests related to felony sex offender registration violations.  

Several of the sex offender registration violation fugitives had been out of compliance with their local registration obligations between two and five-plus years.

A missing/endangered 1 ½-year-old child was recovered in Baton Rouge with support from the USMS Middle District of Louisiana Task Force as part of USMS Northern Florida’s Missing Child Unit (MCU) Operation Northern Lights.  

Sixteen of the 37 arrestees were nabbed during the operation on felony warrants related to open sex-based offenses.  

Crimestoppers GNO support included a media released photo spread titled “The House of Ghosts” of 30 fugitives which resulted in the arrests or clearing of 10 of the photo spread targets.  The 20 remaining targets are still at large and Crimestoppers GNO rewards are available for information that leads to their arrest.

Highlights of Operation Boo Dat 2025 included:

-- The Oct. 17, 2025, arrest of Victor M. Ilaraza-Esquilin, who was wanted by New Orleans Police SVU on a June 2025 felony warrant for indecent behavior with juveniles and an October 2025 felony warrant for sexual conduct between educator and student.  Ilaraza-Esquilin was a former dean of students at a New Orleans area high school, and it is alleged he used his position to threaten the girls with legal issues if sexual favors were not exchanged.

-- The Oct. 20, 2025, arrest of David Robert Morel Jr.  Morel is a registered tier 2 sex offender based on prior state and federal convictions related to possession of child pornography.  The Louisiana Bureau of Investigations (LA Attorney General’s Office BOI) obtained a new felony warrant for Morel in mid-October charging him with 27 counts of child sex abuse material possession with images of children under the age of 13 years old.  Morel was spending his time between a house in Alabama and an address on the west bank of New Orleans.  Based on his extended stay in New Orleans the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Sex Offender Registration (SOR) Unit also obtained a felony failure to register as a sex offender warrant for him.  

-- The Oct. 23, 2025, arrest of Marlon Rafael Cruz, who was wanted by Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office (JPSO) on a felony warrant for sexual battery and indecent behavior with a juvenile.  The U.S. Marshals New Orleans Task Force had arrested Cruz earlier in October 2025 in Kenner on a New Orleans Police Department SVU warrant for attempted first-degree rape, sexual battery, and indecent behavior with a juvenile.  The NOPD warrant alleged that in July 2025 Cruz attempted to sexually assault and rape a known 10-year-old victim at a New Orleans residence.  The JPSO warrant was related to the same victim but with additional offenses alleged to have occurred in Jefferson Parish.  Cruz is also alleged to have told the child that he would kill her mother if she told on him.  

-- The Nov. 12, 2025, arrest of Cornell Karyan Meare, who was wanted on a November 2025 NOPD felony warrant obtained by NOPD Child Abuse Unit for first-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to a juvenile.  In August 2025, a 9-month-old child victim was found unresponsive in a Little Woods, New Orleans, residence by his mother and the cause of death was later determined to be blunt force trauma to the child’s head and neck.  Meare was the last person to have custody of the child and NOPD Child Abuse Unit alleged that Meare provided conflicting statements about what happened.  

-- The Nov. 25, 2025, arrest of Chad Paul Collins Jr., who was wanted on a St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office felony warrant for third-degree rape and molestation of a juvenile. The USMS New Orleans Task Force developed information that Collins had fled to Mississippi and a collateral lead was sent to the USMS Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force (S/MS Office) resulting in Collins’ arrest in Perkinston, Mississippi. The St. Tammany Parish S.O. warrant alleged that Collins raped a 15-year-old victim.  Collins was also out on bond on a pending 2023 felony arrest for the alleged second-degree sexual battery of a 9-year-old victim. Collins failed to show up for court on that case, so he was also arrested on the failure-to-appear warrant as well.  

-- The Dec. 3, 2025, arrest of Elroy Karon Richardson (AKA: “Put”) on a St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office September 2025 felony warrant for armed robbery with a firearm.  Law enforcement alleges Richardson is a local gang member and that he and four other males entered a residence in Chalmette and assaulted the two occupants using AR style rifles. Richardson and the other males fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle.  Richardson was also wanted on a NOPD warrant from September 2025 for domestic violence battery of a pregnant victim, referring to his girlfriend, who was nine months pregnant at the time. Richardson also had an additional NOPD warrant from September 2024 for aggravated assault with a firearm.   At the request of the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office, Richardson became an Operation Boo Dat “House of Ghosts” target and with critical assistance from Crimestoppers GNO he was arrested at an address in New Orleans.  

-- The Dec. 4, 2025, arrest of Paul Jacobie White in Houston, Texas, by the Houston Police Department Sex Offender Registration (SOR) Unit.  White was wanted on a NOPD SOR Unit felony warrant for failure to register as a sex offender.  He had advised the NOPD SOR Unit in November 2020 that he was moving to Houston and he was supposed to set up a registration appointment with Houston Police Department but never did.  He is a Tier 3 (lifetime registration) sex offender based on a June 2017 conviction for sexual battery involving an 8-year-old victim.  At the time of his arrest in Houston he had been in violation of his registration for over five years.

-- The Jan. 5 arrest of William Lombas IV on Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office felony warrants from February 2023 for failure to appear in court on a pending felony failure to register as a sex offender charge and on an April 2023 felony failure to register as a sex offender warrant.  Lombas, based on a Crimestoppers GNO “House of Ghosts” tip, was arrested at a residence in Marrero by the USMS New Orleans Task Force. Lombas is listed as a Tier 2 (25 years of registration) sex offender based on a 2011 conviction for computer aided solicitation of a minor.        

-- The Jan. 13 arrest of Dwight Joseph Jr. on an Eastern District of Louisiana federal supervised release violations warrant based on a 2017 federal conviction for possession of child porn and failure to register as a sex offender.  Joseph also has a prior October 2005 felony conviction in Pennsylvania for sexual abuse of children-dissemination of photographs, videotapes, computer depictions, and films.  Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Probation received information that Joseph was in possession of multiple electronic devices possibly containing illegal images and abusing narcotics in violation of his federal probation. Efforts to get him to surrender to U.S. Probation resulted in Joseph avoiding U.S. Probation and the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD SOR Unit.  The USMS New Orleans Task Force arrested Joseph on the afternoon of Jan. 13 outside a local New Orleans hospital.  Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is still investigating Joseph as it is believed that he may have been in possession of many new child sexual material images.

-- The Jan. 14 arrest of Johnathan Tarell Greenhouse on a NOPD SVU warrant for three counts of first-degree rape and indecent behavior with a juvenile.  The now 13-year-old victim disclosed that Greenhouse allegedly sexually assaulted the victim between the ages of 4 and 8 years old.  Greenhouse was arrested by New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) SVU and the USMS New Orleans Task Force at a job site in Orleans Parish.  

“The serious nature of these offenses underscores the urgency of our mission. These arrests reflect our relentless pursuit of individuals who have evaded justice for too long. Together, we will continue to seek protections for victims and work towards a safer community,” said Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Marshal Enix Smith III.  

Any information on felony fugitives can be provided to the U.S. Marshals Service New Orleans Task Force at (504) 589-6872 or via email at usms.wanted@usdoj.gov. 

Crimestoppers GNO may also be contacted with tips at (504) 822-1111.  Information on outstanding Operation Boo Dat “House of Ghosts” targets may be found on the Crimestoppers GNO website and Crimestoppers GNO’s social media accounts.