Nationwide manhunt catches local fugitives

The fugitives hid under beds, in closets, or ran out the back door. But law enforcement was there to catch them - a record 35,000 times last month.

That's the number of arrests made as part of Operation FALCON, a nationwide dragnet to catch fugitives wanted on outstanding arrest warrants. That includes 433 people wanted for murder, 900 gang members and 2,356 accused sex offenders.

DuPage, McHenry and Cook county sheriffs took part in the annual manhunt, and helped catch 537 of the most-wanted in the Chicago metropolitan area, including 12 wanted for homicide, 138 for sex-related offenses and 211 for assault.

Working with the marshals, McHenry County arrested 27 people, mostly on narcotics theft, burglary and battery, Sheriff Keith Nygren said.

"It was a pretty effective sweep," Nygren said.

In addition to the single deputy who tracks down fugitives full-time in DuPage County, Sheriff John Zaruba said he dedicated several other officers and his SWAT team to work with the U.S. Marshals on Operation FALCON.

The feds can offer resources local police often can't, such as tracing phone records.

The sweep cost $1 million to execute, and combines more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies into the largest fugitive sweep in the country, and the effort set a record for arrests in a single month.

The majority of the fugitives were wanted for nonviolent offenses, mostly drugs, thefts and fraud, plus a large number of weapons violations.

But investigators tried to concentrate on the most-wanted fugitives, with the most serious offenses and longest rap sheets.

John Clark, director of the U.S. Marshals Service, said the effort even extended to catch nine fugitives in foreign countries.

"This operation," he said, "gave new meaning to the phrase, 'the long arm of the law.'"

Breakdowns of arrests were not available for DuPage or Cook counties.

Maureen Kanka, whose daughter Megan's death in 1994 gave rise to Megan's Law, requiring police to notify the public of nearby sex offenders, attended the Operation FALCON news conference in Chicago Thursday. She praised police for their efforts.

"My hat's off to all of you," she said. "You risk your lives... to make it safer for me, my other children, and all of the other families that are out there."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="http://www.usmarshals.gov/">U.S. Marshal's Web site </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>