30 Grant County felons among arrest sweep
Local Crime News
SPOKANE - Grant County Sheriff's deputies and Moses Lake police officers joined a U.S. Marshals task force that rounded up hundreds of Eastern Washington felons.
More than 230 arrests were made during "Operation Scattergun II," nearly 30 of them wanted felons in Grant County, according to the sheriff's office.
The sweep was conducted June 4 through June 7 by the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force (VOTF), which is a U.S. Marshals-led task force comprised of deputy U.S. Marshals from the Eastern and Western Districts of Washington, the District of Alaska and the District of Oregon, along with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
The sheriff's office has four members on the VOTF, while the Moses Lake Police Department has two officers assigned to the task force.
Teams of task force officers covered 20 counties in Eastern Washington, focusing on capture of sex offenders and other violent offenders in the Spokane, Tri-Cities and Yakima regions, according to Craig Thayer, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Washington.
"Once again it is demonstrated that with the outstanding cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that we have in our region, we are able to make our communities safer by taking felons off the street," Thayer stated. "The success of this operation is a tribute to the dedicated law enforcement professionals that participated."
Thayer pointed out some notable fugitives arrested during the operation, including Eugene Elkins, 56, for the alleged homicide of his wife in Grays Harbor County; Chad Jackson, 25, for two counts of third degree child rape; and Rogelio Rivera, 28, who was indicted on federal charges in September 2011 for possession of an unregistered sawed off shotgun.
The arrests also included 34 non-compliance felony warrants; 53 Department of Corrections warrants and dozens of federal, state and local felony warrants. More than 100 felony arrests were made on June 4 and 5, 85 arrests were made on June 6 and 36 arrests were made on June 7 throughout Eastern Washington, Thayer stated.