For most of the fall season, the US Marshals Service was hard at work in Louisiana, scoping out the New Orleans area in an annual crime-fighting operation that paid off big time this year. In a report issued in 2021's final days, the agency announced that thanks to "Operation Boo Dat" it had tracked down five missing and endangered girls between the ages of 14 and 17, as well as made 30 arrests, many of them for sex offender violations, per USA Today. The operation was a multiagency effort, with an assist from the New Orleans Police Department, Louisiana State Police, and other local law enforcement, per a Justice Department release.
Regarding the missing girls, the Complex notes the teens "were found to be living in various motels and residences where alleged criminal activity was taking place." One 16-year-old, said to have run away from home after stealing a family member's vehicle and handgun, was found living at a New Orleans residence with multiple adults, including an adult strip-club dancer. A 14-year-old "with possible sex-trafficking ties" was located in a motel in the eastern part of the city with two other teens, while a 15-year-old runaway with "prior human sex trafficking issues" was found in Baton Rouge. Meanwhile, two sisters, ages 15 and 16, were found in a Baton Rouge apartment and were said to be possible "victims of adult(s) felony criminal sexual activities."
The 30 arrests reported by the US Marshals Service included 17 for felony sex offender registration violations. One of those arrested was Lorenzo Oliver, a Tier 3 offender (the most serious designation), who authorities say had a felony warrant out against him for the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in an abandoned home. Authorities also carried out, or tried to carry out, more than 100 sex offender compliance checks in Orleans and Jefferson parishes to make sure that sex offenders were living where they claimed to be. (More sex offenders stories.)
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