Fugitive program deemed a success

Joint approach results in 180 arrests in June

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A collaboration of local, state and federal law enforcement has apprehended many fugitives wanted by local jurisdictions, police chiefs said.

Participating in the joint effort “gives us a great resource for cases ... that extend beyond our ability to investigate because of distances” or the nature of the crime, New Middletown Village Police Chief Vincent D’Egidio said of his six-officer department.

“We can actually search for them across boundaries,” Youngstown Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said of fugitives sought by the program, known as Operation FALCON.

The four-year-old program resulted in the arrests last month of about 180 people wanted on warrants for various crimes in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, according to supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal David Kasulones.

The program’s name is an acronym for Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally.

Officials cited specific examples of fugitives arrested in this year’s sweep:

- Hughes noted the June 25 arrest at the Akron Greyhound bus station of Daniel Austin, 51, accused of pushing his way into a residence on Youngstown’s East Side, abducting a woman and threatening her with serious bodily harm.

- Lordstown Police Chief Brent Milhoan cited the June 2 arrest at a Warren residence of Vincent Smith, who was wanted for nearly a year on a felonious assault warrant from Whitehall, Ohio, police, after being accused of shooting the owner of a car he was trying to steal. Smith had crack cocaine on him when arrested and belongs to the Easthaven Bloods gang, Milhoan said.

- Deputy U.S. Marshal Dean Michael noted the June 18 arrest at a Boardman hotel of Michael Tackett, 38, who was wanted in the rape of a female real-estate agent in Pennsylvania.

The fugitives apprehended in the tri-county area were among 1,211 people arrested across Northeast Ohio on 1,703 warrants last month in the program, Kasulones announced at a Thursday news conference with the local police chiefs.

Those arrested in Northeast Ohio included 58 people charged with sex crimes or failure to register after a sex-crime conviction, five people charged in homicides, 311 people wanted on drug charges, 103 wanted on assault charges and 352 wanted on burglary, robbery or larceny charges.

Thirteen guns and $20,032 in cash were also seized, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

More than 30,000 people were arrested nationally last month in the program directed by the U.S. Marshals Service. The program is designed to focus on those charged with violent crimes or sex crimes.

Participating officers are sworn in as special deputy U.S. Marshals, giving them authority to cross traditional jurisdictional lines to track down and arrest fugitives. Arrests are made under the program on both federal and state charges.

Since the program’s inception in 2005, it has made 91,086 arrests across the country in periodic multistate sweeps and accounted for the largest nationwide mass arrests in U.S. history.

Operation FALCON is a federal, state and local law enforcement collaboration that stands for Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally.

It was initiated in 2005 by then-U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzalez and then-U.S. Marshals Service Director Ben Reyna to catch terrorism suspects and others wanted for violent crimes.

Its first one-week operation in April 2005 rounded up 10,340 fugitives in what was then the largest nationwide mass arrest in U.S. history.

The second one-week effort, in April 2006, rounded up 9,037 people in 27 states.

The third sweep, in October 2006, netted 10,733 fugitives in 24 states.

A March 2007 sweep netted about 200 fugitives in Baltimore, Md.

In June 2008, the operation nabbed 19,380 people in 47 states, including those wanted for murders, gang violence and drug, firearm and sex offenses.

Since 2005, the program has made 91,086 arrests and cleared 117,874 warrants.

In Northeast Ohio, the program involves more than 500 law enforcement officers from about 115 agencies.

Sources: U.S. Marshals Service, the Washington Post and Project Censored