Thread: Operation FALCON 2009 Nets More than 35,000 Fugitives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
July 09, 2009 Chief Tommy Thompson
Operation FALCON 2009 Commander (615) 736-5417;
USMS Headquarters Public Affairs (202) 307-9065

Operation FALCON 2009 Nets More than 35,000 Fugitives

Operation Targets Violent Offenders Nationwide

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Marshals Service, partnering with federal, state and local law enforcement, arrested 35,190 fugitives and cleared 47,418 warrants as part of Operation FALCON 2009 (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally), U.S. Marshals Service Director John F. Clark announced today.

Ranging from coast to coast, Operation FALCON 2009 brought together the resources of 42 federal agencies, 209 state agencies and 1,973 local sheriffs’ and police departments, to again make the program a huge success.

Since its inception in 2005, Operation FALCON has made 91,086 arrests and cleared 117,874 warrants and is the single most successful initiative aimed at apprehending violent fugitives in U.S. law enforcement history.

In Operation FALCON 2009, as in prior operations, an emphasis was placed on the capture of violent offenders, gang members and sex offenders. Nationwide, the operation arrested 433 persons wanted for murder, 900 gang members and 2,356 sex offenders. Among those brought in:

Willie Conway, a convicted sexual predator and a member of the Vice Lords street gang, was wanted in Kankakee County, Ill., for criminal sexual child fondling. His victim was a nine-year-old girl. During the morning of June 18, FALCON team members from the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, based in Chicago, joined by deputies from the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, established surveillance at a residence in Chicago where they believed Conway was residing. Conway was arrested without incident and now may face additional charges for failure to register as a sex offender.

Joseph Christian Fontana was taken into custody June 5. Fontana was wanted in Santa Rosa County, Fla., for rape of a minor, 25 counts of sexual molestation, child pornography, and lewd and lascivious acts. A registered sex offender in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Fontana relocated to Santa Rosa County in 2001, assumed a new identity and allegedly continued to commit sex crimes against minors. He later fled and was believed to be in South America. Following an extensive investigation by the FALCON team members in the United States and deputies assigned to USMS Dominican Republic Foreign Field Office, Fontana was located in Cabrera, Dominican Republic. He was arrested by agents from the Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas Fugitive Unit, and will be returned to the United States to face the charges pending against him.

U.S. Marshals Director John Clark has overseen five of the six FALCON operations since becoming head of the agency in March 2006. “I continue to be impressed with the remarkable results that can be achieved when all of law enforcement comes together,â€

July 09, 2009 -

The U.S. Marshals Service, partnering with federal, state and local law enforcement, arrested 35,190 fugitives and cleared 47,418 warrants as part of Operation FALCON 2009 (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally), U.S. Marshals Service Director John F. Clark announced today. Ranging from coast to coast, Operation FALCON 2009 brought together the resources of 42 federal agencies, 209 state agencies and 1,973 local sheriffs’ and police departments, to again make the program a huge success.

http://www.usmarshals.gov/news/index.html