Officials from the U.S. Marshal’s office announced today that 103 sex offender registry cases in the district were closed after arrests were made during a federal round-up, Operation FALCON III. More unregistered sex offenders were arrested in West Tennessee than anywhere else in the nation.
“That number doesn’t mean we have more offenders, but it does mean we were more aggressive in pursuing them,” said U.S. Marshal David Jolley at a press conference in Memphis Thursday afternoon.
From October 22-28, the round-up targeted outstanding warrants for failure to register as a sex offender, gang members, homicides, narcotics violations, and more in 24 eastern states. The operation netted 1,659 sex offenders nationwide and cleared a total of 13,333 warrants.
Locally, the Memphis Police Department, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, and the U.S. Marshals participated in the weeklong dragnet.
Said Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin: “The more folks we can put in the sheriff’s jail, the better I feel.”