Pelican State News

Five girls ages 14 to 17 have been rescued and 30 adults have been arrested after a months-long human trafficking investigation in Louisiana.

The U.S. Marshals Service New Orleans Task Force, the New Orleans Police Department, and the Louisiana State Police worked together to complete the mission, which they called “Operation Boo Dat.”

It lasted from October until Dec. 24, 2021.

United States Marshal Scott Illing | U.S. Marshals Service

U.S. Marshal Scott Illing of the Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Marshal's Office said there were 30 people charged. 

“That’s not one investigation,” Illing told Pelican State News. “They were wanted on different types of warrants and some of them were wanted for failing to register as a sex offender. A couple were wanted for open sex charges. Most of them from different, totally different cases.

“Most of them for failing to register as a sex offender, which is a felony in Louisiana,” he said. “One of them was for rape of a 12-year-old. And then there are some other charges as well.”

He said the females who were rescued came from separate locations and were not involved in the same criminal enterprise.

A 16-year-old female runaway who left her residence in Marrero in Jefferson Parish by allegedly stealing a relative’s vehicle and a handgun was found at a home in the 7900 block of Benson Street in New Orleans.

The girl, known to have ties to Bourbon Street and the Chef Menteur Highway area of New Orleans, was living with several adults, including an adult female strip club dancer.

A 14-year-old girl with possible sex trafficking ties was recovered at a motel off Read Boulevard in New Orleans East. She was found, along with a 17-year-old female and a 15-year-old female staying in a motel room. The room smelled of marijuana and alcohol, according to a release.

The girls said before moving to that room they were in another motel room with adult males from Baton Rouge, who stranded them when they returned to Baton Rouge after the adult men’s cousin was shot.

Another recovery was the result of a collateral lead request from USMS Middle District of Louisiana to attempt to locate a 15-year-old runaway female for the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office.

That teen had prior human sex trafficking issues in Baton Rouge, but her pimp had recently been murdered. She was found living with her 17-year-old boyfriend and one of his relatives at an apartment in the 12100 block of North Interstate Highway 10 Service Road in New Orleans.

Information was also developed that the female was regularly leaving the apartment to meet with adult males in New Orleans East. The case is also possibly associated with an armed robbery that occurred in the same area.

Two sisters, one a 16-year-old from St. Tammany Parish, the other a 15-year-old from Baton Rouge, were found in a Baton Rouge apartment and, according to the Marshals Service, “may be victims of adult(s) felony criminal sexual activities.” The Marshals Service Middle District of Louisiana and the Baton Rouge Police Department assisted in the rescue operation.

In addition to the five girls rescued, a 17-year-old female who had been missing and reported as a runaway for some time was arrested in Hammond on a Tangipahoa Parish felony warrant for human trafficking. She also was wanted on a warrant out of Natchez, Mississippi, for stealing a vehicle.

The girl is known to have prior ties to several female runaways from New Orleans as well as ties to organized gang activities, according to the Marshals Service.

Seventeen of the 30 arrested adults received charges of felony sex offender registration violations. More than 100 compliance checks were either attempted or completed in Jefferson and Orleans parishes to determine whether individuals were sex offenders.

Among those arrested was Lorenzo Oliver, 34, a Tier 3 sex offender, the most serious classification, with a long history of sexual crimes.

Oliver was arrested in Gonzales, Louisiana, on a felony warrant for first-degree rape of a 12-year-old girl in an abandoned West Bank residence. The St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office assisted. He also has been charged for failure to report international travel to Ethiopia to the St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office as required by Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

He had been arrested in 2013 following an attempted rape of a woman in a Louisiana library bathroom. Oliver was convicted in 2015 of attempted forcible rape and sexual battery and required to register as a sex offender for life.

In 2004, Oliver was convicted in Pierce County, Washington, on two charges of molestation in the second degree involving a 12-year-old girl. Molestation allegations dated back several years.

Sex offender James Sorrell was arrested Oct. 25 at a homeless shelter in New Orleans where he was staying under a false name.

Sorrell was wanted on a Texas Department of Corrections Parole warrant from November 2019 based on a prior failure to register as a sex offender conviction and he also had active Austin, Texas, and Dane County, Wisconsin, warrants for failure to register as a sex offender. His original 1987 conviction in Idaho involved a 7-year-old female victim.

Sex offender David Douglas Smith was arrested Oct. 26 on a Jackson County, Mississippi on a failure to register as a sex offender warrant from June 2019.

Smith was convicted in 1996 in East Baton Rouge Parish conviction for molestation of a juvenile, a 9-year-old girl. He was found in the Hammond area in late October based on a collateral lead from USMS Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force (Southern Mississippi USMS Office) Smith had been living in Tangipahoa Parish for more than two years without SORNA compliance.

Lamonte Versill Morris was arrested Oct. 29 on a collateral lead request from USMS Southern Texas Corpus Christi Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force.

Morris was wanted on a San Patricio County, Texas, warrant from June for the alleged aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl. Morris had gone on the run knowing he was wanted. He was located by the USMS New Orleans Task Force at a residence in the 3800 block of Dhemecourt Street in New Orleans.

James E. Muse, wanted on a state parole violations warrant for not reporting for a considerable amount of time, was arrested on Nov. 8.

Muse was on parole for enticing persons under 17 into prostitution in Orleans Parish. There have been reoccurring allegations reported to law enforcement of him being involved in sex trafficking. Muse had been an Operation Boo Dat 2020 arrest related to the alleged 2020 charges of aggravated battery of a teen using a cigarette lighter and simple robbery.

Tier 3 sex offender Anthony Roberts was arrested Dec. 7 on a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office felony failure to register as a sex offender warrant from October 2019.

Roberts had been featured by Crimestoppers GNO as a part of their Boo Dat 2020 fugitive photo spread and was aware that he was wanted. Roberts was originally convicted in 1997 of attempted forcible rape and must register for life. He received a 20-year sentence for the original conviction. He was found residing at an apartment on Tabany Street in Metairie.

Tier 3 sex offender Kuimar Stephens was arrested Dec. 22 at a residence in the 6900 block of Yorktown Drive in New Orleans he tried to flee out of a window.

A small quantity of what is believed to be ecstasy was later seized from Stephens. He was wanted on an Orleans Parish Criminal District Court warrant from August 2020 for failure to appear in court on a pending felony failure to register as a sex offender charge and had not updated his registration since at least 2020.

Stephens was also wanted on a New Orleans Police Department warrant from November alleging that he was in possession of a rifle. This stems from a Nov. 21 shooting incident in the 3400 block of Pleasure Street. An AK-47 variant rifle was recovered by New Orleans Police Department at the scene of the shooting

“With critical assistance from our state and local partners along with Crimestoppers GNO we continue our daily efforts to make the Eastern District of Louisiana safer,” Illing said in a statement. “The results of this operation were only accomplished via law enforcement teamwork and USMS New Orleans Task Force along with our local, state and federal partners continue to support the sex offender investigations and missing child unit missions of the USMS along with ongoing investigations of violent felony offender fugitives across the Eastern District of Louisiana.”

Illing has worked for the U.S. Marshals Service for 23 years. Before starting with it, he was a state probation officer and a university police officer.

He said it appears sex trafficking is more common now, in part because of increased public awareness.

“I have a feeling that people are probably more aware of it now and social media is helping to fuel it more to groom victims more,” Illing told Pelican State News. 

The National Human Trafficking Hotline Reports that since 2007, there have been 1,020 cases of human trafficking in Louisiana with 1,481 individuals who had a high likelihood of being victims and 1,319 individuals who had a moderate likelihood of being trafficking victims.