Five-day sweep protects kids from sex offenders
A five-day local and federal sweep of fugitive sex offenders has put 25 people in police custody and checked hundreds more for compliance with state sex offender regulations.
Operation Trick-or-Treat II is aimed at locating and arresting sex offenders suspected of being out of registration compliance and deterring others from interacting with trick-or-treating children during the Halloween season.
Local authorities have teamed up with the U.S. Marshals Service and other agencies to execute the project.
Seventeen of those arrested during compliance checks were found to be sex offenders, according to Las Vegas Chief Deputy Marshal Javier Jimenez. Two of the arrests by U.S. marshals took place in New Mexico and Minnesota. It wasn't clear how many arrests occurred in the Las Vegas Valley.
Authorities planned to conduct 161 compliance checks Friday night to see whether registered sex offenders were conforming to their probation and parole conditions by not participating in Halloween festivities and interacting with trick-or-treating children.
The project has been in action since Monday and was initiated by Nevada Child Seekers, a nonprofit child advocacy organization.
"Our role is to say we're a partner with an agency that protects children in the community," said Stephanie Parker, Nevada Child Seekers executive director. "If you look at Halloween from the perspective of a predator, there is a lot of candy out there."
Contact reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.
