Operation Falcon
Warrant sweep held in JuneBy AMANDA SMITH-TEUTSCH Tribune Chronicle
Article Photos
YOUNGSTOWN - Ohio's streets are a little safer after last month's warrant sweep, said Youngstown police Chief Jimmy Hughes.
"I honestly believe this prevented at least one homicide in Youngstown," Hughes said Thursday at a news conference announcing the results of the monthlong sweep.
The sweep, called "Operation Falcon," is organized every June by the U.S. Marshals Service. This year, the fifth year of the program, 1,211 fugitives were arrested by the U.S. Marshals in the Northern District of Ohio. Of those, 58 were sex offenders. Also seized were 13 firearms and nearly 3 kilograms of drugs.
One of the fugitives arrested in the sweep was Daniel Austin, 51, no address given, Hughes said.
Austin had warrants issued for his arrest in relation to a burglary and kidnapping on the East Side. Hughes said he forced his way into a woman's home and held her captive for a time before fleeing to Cleveland.
Hughes said Austin was arrested June 25 at a bus station in Akron, trying to make his way back to Youngstown.
"We believe he was on his way back to Youngstown to kill the victim," Hughes said.
Lordstown police Chief Brent Milhoun said the task force operated by the Marshals service is a valuable tool for small departments like his.
"Many times we are limited by manpower and resources," Milhoun said. "The Marshals have the ability to find people that I don't know that we would ever be able to find."
The warrant sweeps are conducted with the aid of local police departments. In the northern district of Ohio, 1,700 warrants were cleared in the monthlong operation.
Lordstown, for example, submitted four warrants to the task force. Detective Chris Bordonaro said the four warrants were felonies, including passing bad checks. Two of the warrants were cleared, he said, when the suspects were located outside the pickup radius for the police department. If the arrests had been made, Lordstown would have had to travel to retrieve the suspects, he said.
In Niles, detectives said more than 20 fugitives, with warrants for at least 70 combined criminal charges, were arrested for offenses ranging from drug trafficking to domestic violence, theft and receiving stolen property.
Dean Michael, of the Marshals Service, said another of the arrests in the sweep was the June 18 arrest of Michael Tackett, 38, of West Pittsburgh, Pa. Tackett had been accused of luring a Mercer County real estate agent to a home, having requested a private viewing of a property that had been for sale. Inside the home, Tackett held the woman at gunpoint and raped her, Michael said.
An investigation led federal authorities to believe Tackett was at a hotel in Boardman, Michael said, and was arrested there by Marshals June 18.
Nationwide, police made more than 35,000 arrests during the monthlong crackdown - the most in the roundup's 5-year history and nearly double the number from last year - authorities announced Thursday.
The Marshals Service said the latest "Operation Falcon" captured 433 murder suspects and 900 gang members. Many of the fugitives were arrested on weapons and narcotics charges. The roundup also netted nearly 5,800 violent criminals along the U.S.-Mexico border, an area that has seen a spike in violence in recent months.
For more information about the operation log on to www.usmarshals.gov/falcon
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07-10-09 9:11 AM
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