Five missing teenagers were found following a law enforcement operation in the New Orleans area, according to a news release. The operation also resulted in the arrest of 30 sex offenders.
The operation was a multi-agency initiative named “Operation Boo Dat,” the release said. The U.S. Marshals Service released the statement on Monday sharing that Operation Boo Dat was conducted from mid-October to Dec. 24.
Of the arrested sex offenders, the Marshals Service said that 17 were accused of felony sex offender registration violations.
The press release also said that the girls found were between the ages of 14 and 17.
One of the missing girls was a 16-year-old who ran away from her home in Marrero, New Orleans. The release said she allegedly stole a relative’s car and a handgun. The U.S. Marshals Service found the girl in a home with “multiple adults including a strip club dancer.”
Of those arrested, one was a man wanted for raping a 12-year-old girl victim in a home that was abandoned on the West Bank of New Orleans.
Two of the other girls found were sisters ages 15 and 16, located in a Baton Rouge apartment who could “be victims of adult(s) felony criminal sexual activities,” the press release said.
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Another man was arrested for an alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in June, the U.S. Marshals said. The alleged assault took place in San Patricio County, Texas.
The operation was conducted with the U.S. Marshals Service, New Orleans Police Department, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana State Police, and USMS New Orleans Task Force.
The U.S. Marshals Service went on to say in their release that during the operation, agencies checked in with hundreds of sex offenders.
“During Operation Boo Dat over one hundred sex offender compliance checks were also attempted or completed in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes,” said the US Marshal Service. “Sex Offender compliance checks require law enforcement officers to go to the sex offender’s reported address of residence to verify that the person still lives at the provided address. Often countless hours of follow up investigative work are required during and after a compliance check.”
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