The U.S. Marshals Service says over 300 fugitives were captured in Iowa during an operation with state and local law officers. It’s a nationwide effort called "Operation FALCON" or Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally. Southern District U.S. Marshal Mike Powell says they target specific areas during the month of June.
He says that included violent criminals and sex offenders, and this year they also targeted people in the southern district wanted on outstanding felony and probation warrants. Powell says other federal agencies also helped out, and the concentrated effort allowed them to make more arrests.
Powell says it’s difficult for state and local officers to dedicate time on a day-to-day basis to arresting people on warrants as they have other duties. He says operation FALCON helps clear backlogs by targeting the warrants. The month-long effort led to the arrest of 85 fugitives, including nine sex offenders, and cleared 111 warrants in the southern district. Powell says there were some arrests that stood out.
Convicted sex offender Troy McDaniels was arrested on state and federal sex offender registry violations. Troy and Rachel Phillips who were wanted by A-T-F agents and U.S. Marshals were arrested and charged with alleged distribution of marijuana in excess of one-thousand pounds. Powell says the pair was located in the country of Belize and removed to Miami, Florida where they were arrested and then returned to Iowa.
In the northern district of Iowa U.S. Marshal Bill Kiesau says they had success in cities like Fort Dodge, Dubuque and Sioux City. He says they arrested 258 fugitives, including 16 sex offenders and they cleared 368 warrants. Kiesau talked more about the arrests.
He says they arrested a couple of people wanted on federal sex offender charges for child pornography, and they found a man in Dubuque that was wanted in Chicago for murder. Kiesau says the man wanted for murder was 22-year-old Leparis Owens of Dubuque. For more information on the operation, go to the U.S. Marshals website .