Sex crimes sting leads to rescue of 5 missing teens in New Orleans, US marshals say
Five teenagers are safe after a months-long investigation that led to the arrests of 30 people, including 17 convicted sex offenders, federal officials say.
The U.S. Marshals Service found the teens, described as “missing” or “endangered,” as part of a sweeping sex crimes operation stretching across the greater New Orleans metro area, the agency announced in a Dec. 27 news release.
The annual effort was led by the agency’s New Orleans Task Force and ran from mid-October through Dec. 24.
Several state and local agencies, including Louisiana State Police and the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, also aided in the investigation.
Among the recovered teens were:
- A 14-year-old girl with “possible sex trafficking ties” found living at a motel in New Orleans East, federal authorities said. Marshals also located two other girls, a 15- and 17-year-old, inside a motel room. The girls told police they had been staying in a different room with men from Baton Rouge, who left them there after one of the men’s cousins was shot.
- A 16-year-old runaway accused of stealing a family member’s car to flee her home in Marrero, according to authorities. She also took a handgun, the release said. Authorities said they found her at a home in New Orleans where she was staying with an exotic dancer and several other adults.
- A 17-year-old runaway wanted on a human trafficking warrant out of Tangipahoa Parish. The teen was also wanted in Natchez, Mississippi, for allegedly stealing a car, authorities said, and was “known to have prior ties to several female runaways from New Orleans.”
- A 15-year-old girl with “prior sex trafficking issues” from Baton Rouge whose pimp was recently killed, the release said. Marshals found her at a New Orleans apartment, according to the news release, where she was living with her 17-year-old boyfriend and her boyfriend’s relative. Investigators said they learned she often left the house to meet men in New Orleans East. Police are investigating a possible link between her case and an armed robbery that occurred in the area.
- Two sisters, a 15- and 16-year-old, reported missing out of St. Tammany Parish and Baton Rouge, respectively. The girls, who police said may be victims of felony sex crimes, were found at an apartment in Baton Rouge.
Among the 30 people arrested were a sex offender wanted in the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl, a paroled sex offender found living at a New Orleans shelter under a fake name, and a fugitive accused in the sexual assault of a 14-year-old Texas girl, according to U.S. marshals.
The agency has launched similar operations across the U.S., leading to the recovery of more than 1,800 children since 2005, McClatchy News previously reported.
A “Summer Rescue” effort in the New Orleans area turned up 11 child runaways in 2020 and ended in several arrests.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 12:45 PM with the headline "Sex crimes sting leads to rescue of 5 missing teens in New Orleans, US marshals say."