The United States Marshals Service in cooperation with the Virginia State Police recently completed Operation Rundown which resulted in the arrest of 24 registered sex offenders within the Western District of Virginia. Operation Rundown was a 6-week operation conducted from mid-July to the end of August. The targets of Operation Rundown were individuals that had arrest warrants issued for sex offender registry violations as well as other violent offenses within the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Operation Rundown was a sex offender enforcement initiative targeting wanted sex offenders and violations of both the Virginia Sex Offender Registration laws and the Adam Walsh Act by registered sex offenders located within the Western District of Virginia. Operation Rundown encompassed all counties, including the cities and towns within the Western District of Virginia. The goal of the operation was to focus on enforcement operations to locate and apprehend wanted sex offenders and identify non-compliant sex offenders for possible state or federal prosecution.
Operation Rundown was a comprehensive effort by both the Virginia State Police and the United States Marshals Service to locate and apprehend sex offenders who are non-compliant as well as sex offenders who are wanted for additional criminal violations of law. Those offenders found to be non-compliant will be further investigated for both state and federal charges and will be referred to the appropriate charging officials located within the Western District of Virginia. “Although Operation Rundown was a targeted enforcement effort,” said U. S. Marshal Thomas Foster, “We continue on a daily basis to track down and locate those offenders who fail to comply with the terms and conditions of the sex offender registration program. Those offenders who remain non-compliant should not assume the enforcement window has closed.”