Sweep rounds up 10,700 fugitives

More than 10,700 fugitives were rounded up last month in a weeklong sweep by federal, state and local law officials, Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales announced Thursday.

The operation, led by the U.S. Marshals Service, was conducted Oct. 22-28 in 24 eastern states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Those arrested are considered “the worst of the worst fugitive felons,” wanted for murder, robbery, kidnapping, carjacking and other serious crimes, Gonzales said at a news conference.

They included 971 convicted sex offenders who had failed to register with local authorities and 364 documented gang members, the Justice Department said. Authorities also reported seizing 232 weapons.

The activity was the third installment of Operation Falcon -- Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally. The previous two sweeps, in April 2005 and April 2006, resulted in almost 20,000 arrests.

Asked about the timing of the arrest announcement -- five days before the midterm election -- Gonzales and Marshals Service Director John F. Clark said the events were unrelated. Instead, Clark said, officials wanted to conduct the roundup in the fall, before the start of winter weather in the Northeast.

Unregistered sex offenders were a particular target of this operation, which received a significant boost from the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act signed by President Bush in July. The law, named after the murdered son of “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh, makes it a federal offense to fail to register as a convicted sex offender.

“The marshals are going to be doing this on a more extensive basis,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “We are going to be developing a system with the marshals and searching public records to find where these guys are.”

mima.mohammed@latimes.com