10,000 fugitives caught in US round-up

Jose Rivera-Sanchez, a fugitive since tunnelling out of a Puerto Rican prison 11 years ago, took a new name and found new lodgings in Connecticut.

Authorities finally caught up with him this week as he was arrested along with more than 10,000 fugitives wanted for murder, rape, child abuse and other crimes in the largest co-ordinated crackdown by federal, state and local law enforcement officials in US history.

The number of arrests during the week-long effort last week was 10 times the average for such a period, according to the US Marshals Service, which led the nationwide dragnet timed to coincide with National Victims Rights Week.

At the same time, however, those arrests represent just 1% of the 1 million fugitives in the FBI’s national database, the Marshals Service says.

More than 150 of those nabbed between April 4-10 were wanted for murder, 550 were sought on rape or sexual assault charges, and more than 600 had outstanding arrest warrants for armed robbery, federal officials said today.

Among those captured were 150 gang members and 100 unregistered sex offenders, said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who held a news conference with US Marshals Service Director Ben Reyna to announce the results of ”Operation Falcon” – an acronym for Federal And Local Cops Organised Nationally.

Rivera-Sanchez might still be on the run if not for the crackdown, which prompted authorities to take a new look at older cases. Marshals in Puerto Rico realised they had never submitted his fingerprints to the FBI. Once they did, they found that the man who had been serving a 37-year sentence for attempted murder, assault and robbery had been arrested twice in Connecticut under an assumed name.

Others arrested included Eddie Kelly, 24, wanted by Dallas police for allegedly killing a man by shooting him five times after leaving a drug house on February 13, and Marcel Baldwin, 21, of Atlanta, who was found beneath a trap door in his kitchen. He was wanted on charges of assault and sexual offence against a child.

Gonzales said more than 70% of those picked up had prior arrests for violent crimes.

“We know from history – and from the bitter experiences of far too many victims – that a fugitive with a rap sheet is more desperate, more predatory, and more likely to commit the crimes that plague citizens and communities,” Gonzales said at the news conference

The number of fugitives caught was at 10,472 yesterday, but officials said that could change as local police finish processing heavy caseloads from the past week.

Congress gave the Marshals Service more money and authority to go after fugitives when it refocused the FBI’s mission toward stopping terrorism after the September 11, 2001, attacks, said Marshals Service spokesman David Turner, noting that the agency now has five permanent regional task forces to search for fugitives.