Yakima, WA - The U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force (PNVOTF) arrested 36 year old Justin Ortega who was wanted by the Yakima Police Department on four counts of Rape of a Child First Degree, two counts of Child Molestation, and one count of Assault of a Child in the 3rd Degree.
On Oct. 10, 2019 Ortega is alleged by law enforcement to have brutally assaulted and raped two young girls. The case was immediately adopted by the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force (PNVOTF) through the Yakima Police Department, who established a full-time Task Force Officer on the PNVOTF following the highly successful Operation Invictus this past summer. On Oct. 26, 2019, Ortega was highlighted on an episode of Washington’s Most Wanted and shortly thereafter, the tips started pouring in.
On Oct. 29, 2019, the PNVOTF Yakima received actionable information from Washington’s Most Wanted viewers that Ortega was traveling back and forth between Bellingham and Blaine Washington. A lead was forwarded to our PNVOTF Snohomish team, who deployed surveillance and arrest teams into Blaine. At approximately 1800 hours this evening, the PNVOTF surrounded a residence in Blaine, Washington with assistance from the Blaine Police Department and began calling Ortega out. Ultimately the PNVOTF forced entry, and arrested Ortega.
Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Raymond Fleck, Yakima, attributed the successful capture of Ortega to the public and private sector partnerships reinforced over this summer during Operation Invictus Civitas, Undefeatable Community, “I am incredibly proud of the work our men and women did over the past three weeks to pursue and capture Ortega, and the willingness of citizen’s across Washington to provide critical information that led to his capture. Their efforts, along with the faith the Yakima Police Department, Yakima County Sheriff’s Office and Washington State Department of Corrections has placed in the PNVOTF by detailing full-time detectives and officers as force-multipliers, ensures that violent offenders like Ortega will be brought to justice."
Chief Matthew Murray of the Yakima Police Department stated, “One of the most critical components to reducing violent crime is arresting violent fugitives. The Yakima Police Department is a proud partner of the U.S. Marshal’s Violent Offender Task Force. This arrest highlights the need to continue our collaborative efforts."
The PNVOTF is a U.S. Marshals Service sponsored partnership composed of federal, state and local law enforcement officers from Washington, Oregon and Alaska including the United States Marshals Service in Washington, Oregon and Alaska, United States Attorney’s Office, Yakima Police Department, Yakima County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Department of Corrections, Arlington Police Department, Benton County Sheriff’s Office, Kennewick Police Department, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, King County Sheriff’s Department, Seattle Police Department, and Yakima County Prosecutors Office. The primary mission of the PNVOTF is to locate, arrest, and return to the justice system the most violent, most egregious federal and state fugitives.
