Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Three endangered or missing children have been found and dozens of people have been arrested in connection to Operation Boo Dat.
The U.S. Marshals Service New Orleans Task Force reported that it ran the operation from Oct. 22, 2023, to Jan. 13, 2024.
The operation is an annual partnership between the New Orleans Police Department, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana State Police and the USMS New Orleans Task Force.
As a result, the children were recovered and tied to the arrests of two men. In total, 28 people were arrested.
The USMS reported the following details of the operation:
- Dean Kelly was arrested by the New Orleans Police Department in December 2023 on allegations of sexual battery, attempted third-degree rape and sex offender registration violations.
- Troy Riley was arrested in October 2023 by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office for felony first-degree rape and two counts of sexual battery on a minor under 13.
- Edmund Spillman Jr. was arrested by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
- A 7-year-old girl was found in Baton Rouge by the USMS Middle District of Louisiana Task Force and USMS New Orleans Task Force. The child was reported missing out of New Orleans.
- Burnell Emile McCann Jr. was arrested on Jan. 3 by the New Orleans Police Department for failure to register as a sex offender. He was also wanted in Harrison County, Mississippi for failure to appear in court.
“Continuing the USMS’s sex offender and missing children’s mission is a vital component in the reduction of sexual crimes,” said U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana Enix Smith III.
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