A multi-week enforcement operation led by the United States Marshals Service ended July 24 with the arrest of more than 330 fugitives wanted for sex offenses, sexual assault, or failing to register as sex offenders.
The effort, dubbed Operation Adam’s Watch, spanned 37 federal judicial districts across 21 states. It was organized to mark the 20th anniversary of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.
According to federal officials, the sweep resulted in the arrest of 234 fugitives wanted on state charges for failure to register, along with five individuals charged with federal violations of the registration statute. Deputies and partnering officers also located and arrested 96 fugitive sex offenders wanted on state sex assault and related charges.
Local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies participated across Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.
Beyond serving active warrants, officers conducted compliance checks to verify whether registered offenders were adhering to their legal reporting requirements.
“The USMS, having a robust network of federal, state, and local partners, was the logical choice to implement the Adam Walsh Act,” U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces Serralta said in a statement. “We are the best in the world at finding people. We have the tools and the talent no one else has. When the Adam Walsh Act became law, it made sense for us, along with our partners, to make sure noncompliant sex offenders are back off the streets and not a threat to those who could become victims.”
The federal law and the operation are named after Adam Walsh, whose 1981 abduction and murder spurred national changes in missing children investigations and led his parents, John and Reve Walsh, to co-found the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
“As we observe Adam Walsh Remembrance Day and the 20th anniversary of the Adam Walsh Act, I’m reminded that my brother’s legacy isn’t defined by what happened to him, but by the lives that continue to be protected because people refused to let his story end in tragedy,” Callahan Walsh, Executive Director of NCMEC, said in the release. “Every time the U.S. Marshals Service apprehends an offender who threatens children, every time NCMEC helps law enforcement recover a missing child or support an investigation, we’re carrying that legacy forward. Together, we’re proving that the strongest tool we have to protect children is partnership.”
The U.S. Marshals Service conducts more than 200 sex offender enforcement operations each year. Since the passage of the Adam Walsh Act, the agency has opened 52,000 federal failure-to-register investigations and executed over 5,300 joint compliance operations, assisting state and local partners with more than 842,000 offender checks nationwide.
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