8 missing endangered children recovered, 18 sex offenders arrested in recent U.S. Marshals operations

NEW ORLEANS, La. (Gray News) – Several agencies worked together to recover eight children considered missing or endangered and arrest 18 sex offenders for registration violations as part of two U.S. Marshals Service operations.

Operations “Return of the School Year” and “NO Saints and Sinners 2021″ ran in the New Orleans area from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30.

While the U.S. Marshals Service was able to help eight missing children, they say an additional three returned home on their own during the operation and three more were located.

Investigations with the Missing Child Unit led to recoveries in Phoenix, Arizona, where a teenage girl was on her way to Las Vegas to meet up with an older man she met on the internet.

Two other recoveries were made in a rural area of southern Mississippi, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

The two-month operation also uncovered allegations of human sex trafficking of minors during several of the cases.

The Sex Offender Investigations Branch arrested 18 people during operation “NO Saints and Sinners 2021,” six of whom were fugitives.

One of the men arrested was wanted by police for sexual battery on a 7-year-old, while another man was wanted for producing child porn of a teenage victim related to a prior Missing Child Unit case.

According to the U.S. Marshals Service, another suspect was recently identified via a DNA hit for aggravated rape and kidnapping from 1989.

Another one of the men arrested as part of the operation was found hiding in a bedroom before being taken into custody.

“This was another example of the results that can be accomplished with continuing law enforcement teamwork,” said U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana Scott Illing. “Much of this work was also accomplished while dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in the New Orleans metro area.”

Any information about missing/endangered children should be reported to your local police department and or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-The-Lost.

Information about violent fugitives can be provided to the U.S. Marshals Service at (504) 589-6872, via email at usms.wanted@usdoj.gov, or with the USMS tips app. Crimestoppers GNO may also be contacted with tips at (504) 822-1111.