On December 31, 2017, The United States Marshal Service and Task Force Partners marked the successful completion of Operation Alpha and Omega.
Operation Alpha and Omega, which began on May 15, 2017, partnered the United States Marshals Service in NM, with the New Mexico Department of Corrections (NMCD) and local law enforcement agencies across the state in conducting a statewide fugitive gang member operation.
The two primary sources that these felony warrants came from are, the NMCD – Probation Parole Security Threat Intelligence Unit, and the District of New Mexico Federal Probation Office.
These warrants include, but are not specifically limited to; probation violators, parole retake warrants, and other gang-related fugitives with felony warrants.
Since May 15, 2017, The Marshals Service and Task Force Partners have been working tirelessly to apprehend fugitive gang members across New Mexico.
The team apprehended 106 fugitives from 41 different gangs, 9 being national gangs and 32 NM gangs. The charges ranged from homicide (12), kidnapping (12), rape (6), weapon (89), assaults/batt (176), and narcotics (146).
This is no small task considering the broad scope of authority and the amount of Fugitives the U.S. Marshals Service in N.M. investigates and arrests annually.
Some arrests to note are: Robert Sanchez, Jose Salazar, Troy Pope, and Maria Torrez.
- Robert Sanchez – apprehended in Albuquerque, alleged SNM member who has allegedly committed 2 homicides.
- Jose Salazar – apprehended in Las Cruces, alleged SSR MOB gang member who allegedly committed 1 homicide.
- Troy Pope – Apprehended in Farmington, an alleged member of the Aryan Brotherhood gang, alleged with 1 Homicide.
- Maria Torrez – apprehended in Roswell, and an alleged member of the Eastside Chihuahuita gang, alleged with 2 homicides.
“Our youth is the precious social fabric in our society and when they become involved in criminal gang behavior it diminishes the future prosperity of our society,” said United States Marshal for The District of New Mexico Conrad E. Candelaria.
“This violent crime reduction initiative that was spearheaded by the Marshals Fugitive Task Force, in partnership with the New Mexico Department of Corrections, what becomes obvious is that criminal gang behavior continues to plague our New Mexico communities, which further reinforces the importance of law enforcement jurisdictions to continue working as a force multiplier in pursuing and apprehending dangerous criminal gang members that have absconded justice.”
“The Marshals Service in New Mexico is committed to bringing to justice all those dangerous, violent fugitives, which also allows our citizens that have been negatively affected by violent crime to have closure.”
“This operation targets the most dangerous criminals and known gang members in our communities who have violated their probation or parole and continue to pose a threat to public safety,” added David Jablonski, Cabinet Secretary for New Mexico Corrections Department.
“The United States Marshals Service is an important partner in sharing intelligence to track down these offenders and we’re thankful for their cooperation and assistance in making our community safe.”
Nationally the United States Marshals Service fugitive programs are carried out with local law enforcement in 94 district offices, 85 local fugitive task forces, 8 regional task forces, as well as a growing network of offices in foreign countries.
The U.S. Marshals Service is the nation’s primary fugitive hunting organization and captures more federal fugitives each year than all other law enforcement agencies combined.
Annually, U.S. Marshals arrest more than 50 percent of all federal fugitives and serve more federal warrants than all other federal agencies combined.
Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.
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