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Lafayette, LA – Following a four-year tradition
of success in its national efforts, the U.S.
Marshals locally conducted another successful
Operation FALCON (Federal and Local Cops Organized
Nationally) from June 15 – June 21. Led by U.S.
Marshals, Operation FALCON is a nationwide law
enforcement effort.
Operation FALCON 2008 – Lafayette combined the
collective efforts of multiple law enforcement
agencies in the Acadiana region’s largest ever
fugitive initiative, focusing on capturing
individuals wanted on felony charges including gang
members, sex offenders and fugitives wanted for
crimes of violence. Over the course of the five-day
operation, Deputy U.S. Marshals, teamed with
federal, state, and local law enforcement partners,
arrested 193 fugitives and cleared 229 warrants.
Each of these arrests carries with it a story. One
such story is on the capture of fugitive Anna
Thibodeaux on June 14. Thibodeaux was on probation
stemming from a Lafayette Parish charge for cruelty
to juveniles. Deputy Marshals received the fugitive
case against her June 13 and worked closely with
agents from Louisiana’s Parole and Probation on the
case. It was quickly determined Thibodeaux was
living in West Virginia with a family that had
children, a clear violation of her parole. Lafayette
Marshals contacted West Virginia Marshals the
evening of June 13 and by early morning on June 14
Thibodeaux was in custody at the Tygarts Valley
Regional Jail in Randolph County, W.Va. Thibodeaux
is awaiting extradition back to Louisiana.
Another story features fugitive Dale Babineaux. On
June 16, Deputies began the process of attempting to
locate Babineaux, who was wanted for violating his
conditions of state probation for a robbery charge
he received here in Lafayette. While researching the
case, Marshals learned Babineaux was wanted in two
counties in Texas for aggravated sexual assault of a
child and trespassing. Lafayette Marshals worked in
conjunction with Houston Marshals and Babineaux was
located on June 19 at a carwash in Houston and soon
thereafter he was arrested. Babineaux is currently
housed at the Harris County Jail awaiting
extradition back to Brazoria County to face the
charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Finally, parole violator Sydiryl Lewis was nabbed in
his front yard after allegedly trying to get away.
Lewis was on parole after being convicted on drug
charge. A FALCON team contacted numerous associates
of Lewis, but he could not be found at any of his
known locations. FALCON team members, however,
persisted and received information that Lewis was at
a location on Ovey Drive. As a result, four FALCON
team members activated their emergency equipment and
proceeded to Ovey Drive.
As team members arrived, Lewis was observed leaving
the home at Ovey Drive. Lewis was ordered to the
ground and arrested without incident. Lewis was
searched and over $3,000 was found on his person and
later that day another warrant was issued for him by
Lafayette’s Metro Narcotics for Distributing in
Excess of $750,000 worth of Promethazine with
Codeine. As Lewis was being arrested all he could
say was, “I was just about to turn myself in.”
The stories go on and on and there were well over
100 stories this last week. During the middle of the
week, team members started scratching their heads in
amazement; it was hard to believe that so many
arrests had taken place in the Acadiana area in such
a short time. In Lafayette, word on the street was,
“What’s going on? The cops are out in force.”
The Marshals have many duties, one of which is to
manage local and regional fugitive task forces.
There are currently more than 90 district fugitive
task forces, one of which is the Western District of
Louisiana’s Fugitive Task Force, and six regional
fugitive task forces managed by U.S. Marshals. These
task forces arrested over 56,600 state and local
fugitives last year. The vast majority of these
arrests are violent felons on the run posing a
danger to our fellow citizens.
When asked, why have a fugitive task force and why
conduct an operation such as FALCON? William “Rut”
Whittington, U.S. Marshal for the Western District
of Louisiana says, “There is a small percentage of
the people creating a large percentage of the
problems … operations such as FALCON exist to pool
the various resources from the federal, state, and
local governments and use those resources in a
concerted effort to locate and arrest violent
fugitives.”
Operation FALCON – Lafayette consisted of officers
from 26 federal, state, and local law enforcement
agencies, working throughout the Acadiana area
during this five-day period (please see Attachment
A). Each participating local officer was sworn in as
a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal immediately prior to
the start of the operation. This special authority
empowered them to cross traditional lines of
jurisdiction to track down and arrest targeted
fugitives throughout the week. Approximately 140
officers were divided into 12 teams during this
five-day period; these teams were spread throughout
the Acadiana area.
Since its inception in 2005, Operation FALCON has
made over 36,500 arrests and cleared over 45,300
warrants. It continues to be the largest and most
successful fugitive apprehension effort in U.S.
Marshals history.
For more information about the U.S. Marshals Service
and Operation FALCON, visit
http://www.usmarshals.gov.
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