Federal authorities have announced the results of a month-long public safety initiative that led to the arrest of 224 fugitives across Illinois and Missouri.
The U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Marshals for the Southern District of Illinois and Eastern District of Missouri said Operation Patriot Shield was conducted throughout June to promote safer communities ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration.
Since June 1, members of the U.S. Marshals Service and its law enforcement task force arrested 224 fugitives and cleared 290 outstanding felony warrants. Sixteen of those arrested in Illinois and six in Missouri were identified as gang members.
Authorities said approximately 31 percent of the warrants involved narcotics offenses, 28 percent involved weapons violations, and at least 20 percent were for violent crimes, including homicide. During the operation, officers also seized fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, and 32 firearms.
Deputy U.S. Marshals also safely located three missing children during the initiative.
In addition, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois indicted 11 defendants during June on charges involving violent crime, firearms, drugs, assault, and child sexual exploitation.
Federal officials said some of the prosecutions are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative targeting violent crime, drug trafficking organizations, and transnational criminal organizations.
The U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force includes the Illinois State Police, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, Effingham County Sheriff’s Department, and numerous other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.