FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: |
January 20, 2008 |
Dominic Guadagnoli, Public Affairs
Officer
(850) 554-6602 |
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Man Arrested for Capital Felony
Charge Surrounding Sexual Assault on Child: Wife, also Wanted for
Aggravated Child Abuse, Arrested as Well |
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Houston, TX - The U.S. Marshals
North Florida Violent Fugitive Task Force announces the arrest of a
man wanted in Escambia County regarding charges involving sexual
battery and child abuse. Jowhar Jasiri Franklin was being sought for
Sexual Battery by a Custodian on a Child Under 12 Years Old, Child
Abuse Causing Great Bodily Harm and Failure to Appear for Child
Abuse charges. Tracy Nicole Franklin, 37, was also wanted for
Failing to Appear on the child abuse charge and Aggravated Child
Abuse, as well as several other misdemeanor charges. Jowhar Franklin
was originally arrested in Pensacola by the Marshals Task Force in
June of 2005 on charges of child abuse and child neglect but he
never appeared in court to face those charges. While he was on the
run, the same victim told authorities that Franklin sexually abused
her. The Task Force believed that Franklin was in New Orleans and
contacted the US Marshals office there on Monday.
On Thursday Deputy Marshals and Task Force officers in New Orleans
attempted to arrest Franklin and his wife, at an apartment complex.
It was then that investigators learned from family members that the
two fugitives had recently fled to Houston. With that new lead, the
North Florida Violent Fugitive Task Force contacted their
counterparts there. Early Friday morning, the Marshals Gulf Coast
Fugitive Task Force in Houston arrested Jowhar Franklin without
incident at an apartment complex located at 1415 W. Gulf Bank Drive.
Tracy Franklin had fled the night before when she supposedly had
heard the Marshals were tracking her and her husband. It was unknown
as to why Jowhar Franklin stayed behind.
The Marshals in New Orleans then revisited the relatives in New
Orleans and told them to contact Tracy Franklin and advise her to
surrender. The relatives were also told that they too may face
charges of Aiding and Abetting a Fugitive as well as False
Statements to a Law Enforcement Officer, when the deputies learned
that one of them had tipped the Franklins off. Late, Saturday
evening, the Marshals Crescent Star Fugitive Task Force in New
Orleans contacted the Marshals in Pensacola and told them that Tracy
Franklin took a bus to New Orleans and was placed into custody by
the Marshals at the bus depot. Jowhar Franklin waived his
extradition from the Harris County Jail in Houston and his wife
remains in the Orleans Parish Jail pending her return to Florida. |
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