SAFE AND SOUND

‘Operation Boo Dat’ Locates 5 Missing Teenagers, Arrests Numerous Sex Offenders

One arrested suspect was a Tier 3 sex offender who’d previously been convicted for raping a woman in a library bathroom, and was wanted for the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl.

A multiagency effort in New Orleans called “Operation Boo Dat 2021” has located five endangered and missing teenagers in New Orleans. In addition to finding the five teenagers, the operation, led by the US Marshals Service, led to the arrest of 30 individuals, including 17 who were suspected of felony sex offender registration violations,. One arrested suspect was a Tier 3 sex offender who’d previously been convicted for raping a woman in a public library bathroom and was wanted for the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl. Another was wanted on a warrant for alleged aggravated sexual assault on a 14-year-old.

The operation involved over a hundred sex offender compliance checks, in which authorities visit a sex offender’s “reported address” to verify they still live there. “Often countless hours of follow up investigative work are required during and after a compliance check,” a US Marshals press release noted. The five rescued teenagers were all girls between the ages of 14 and 17, two were sisters, and at least two of them were believed to have current or former “sex trafficking ties,” according to the release.