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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
February 27, 2008

Michael D. Credo
United States Marshal
Eastern District of Louisiana

 Brian W. Fair
Judicial Security Inspector
Public Information Officer
(504)589-2145
 
1994 TENNESSEE CHILD RAPE FUGITIVE INVESTIGATION LANDS FAMILY AND FRIEND BEHIND BARS WITH SUSPECT
 
New Orleans, LA metro area: On the morning of February 27, 2008, the U.S. Marshals Service Crescent Star Fugitive Task Force (CSFTF) with assistance from the Kenner Police Department arrested Ricky Johnson (AKA: Ricky Thomas Miles) 42 years old at his place of business on Williams Blvd. Kenner, Louisiana. Johnson was wanted on a 1994 warrant out of Shelby County (Memphis, TN) charging him with the rape of a child. Investigators in Tennessee allege that Johnson committed the rape over a two year period with a female child between the ages of 8-10 years old.

The U.S. Marshals Service Western District of Tennessee received a request for assistance in locating Johnson from the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. Information was developed that Johnson was possibly in the Kenner area and the lead was forwarded to CSFTF. During the course of the investigation it was also determined that Johnson’s wife, Lecia Urich, 42 years old, was wanted as well. Urich had an active warrant from Escambia County, Florida for felony theft that was issued in 2005. She was arrested without incident by CSFTF and the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office at their residence in St. Charles Parish. Urich was booked into the St. Charles Parish Jail to wait extradition back to Florida.

While Johnson was being arrested in Kenner it was also determined that one of his employees had open attachments out of St. Charles Parish for DUI and Jefferson Parish for simple battery and resisting arrest. That employee was also arrested on the attachments and booked into the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Jail along with Johnson.

U.S. Marshal Michael Credo stated, “The U.S. Marshals Service through the passage of the Adam Walsh Act has significantly increased its efforts to locate sex offenders so that communities are made safer. Once again this is all about law enforcement partnerships. Every agency brings something to the table and that generates success. This arrest is another example of that success.”

The U.S. Marshals Service EDLA sponsored CSFTF is entering its second year with additional support from the U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Department of Justice and will continue its “Operation Debris Removal” efforts. Along with the these three arrests the task force also picked up four individuals wanted on other warrants today. The task force routinely arrests numerous violent or sex related offenders, thus creating a direct impact on the New Orleans metro area. Current CSFTF members include the New Orleans Police Department, Bogalusa Police Department, the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office, St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana Probation and Parole, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Services and Social Security OIG. For more information go to Eastern District of Louisiana .