Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Roundup targets sex offenders

155 are arrested here d uring a nationwide push .

By CARRIE WEIMAR
Published November 3, 2006

TAMPA - A nationwide fugitive sweep resulted in 155 arrests in the Tampa Bay area last week.

Called Operation FALCON III, the roundup was aimed mainly at catching unregistered sex offenders and wanted gang members. It was conducted by U.S. Marshals and other federal and local law enforcement agencies.

The results for the Tampa Bay area were announced at a news conference Thursday at the U.S. Attorney's office in Tampa.

Assistant Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Pete Cajigal said 194 warrants were cleared during the sweep. Fourteen people were also arrested for failing to register as a sex offender.

Among them was Rudolph Henry Kosmerl Jr., who was living in St. Petersburg in 2004 when he was charged with failing to register. Authorities tracked him to his new home in Rock Hill, S.C., where he was arrested Oct. 27, according to the Marshals Service.

Cajigal said the roundup was prompted by the Adam Walsh Act, which was signed into law this year. The act makes it a federal felony for convicted sex offenders to fail to register.

Without oversight, sex offenders have "a much longer reign to do the things they do," Cajigal said. "That poses a huge danger to the community and the children."

Also at the news conference were Roy Brown and Mark Lunsford, both of whom had young daughters abducted and killed. The man convicted of killing Amanda Brown has a history of child molestation, as does the man accused of killing Jessica Lunsford.

Lunsford said the sweep sent an important message.

"It's time we turned the tables on them," he said. "Instead of them stalking our children, we're stalking them."

The sweep cost about $750,000 nationwide, Cajigal said. A local cost estimate was not available.

Carrie Weimar can be reached at 813 226-3416 or cweimar@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 3, 2006, 06:11:23]