Washington, D.C. - During the first three weeks of September, the U.S. Marshals Service’s Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, along with USMS personnel from Superior and District Courts, partnered with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and several other agencies to lead Operation Washout, a national initiative focused on the investigation and arrest of violent fugitives and gang members with active arrest warrants. Washout is an immediate impact operational model intended to support partner agencies and provide communities with relief from violent crime.
“Operation Washout represents three weeks of intense effort by professionals who are committed to making communities and their residents safer from violent crime," said U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, Superior Court Robert Dixon. “The level of cooperation demonstrated in this operation is nothing short of inspirational and clearly demonstrates what we are capable of when we work together to safeguard and protect the public from those who endanger it."
The operation, which ran from August 31- Sept. 18, led to 160 arrests, including 18 gang members, and the seizure of 12 firearms.
“The collaboration between the Metropolitan Police Department and our law enforcement partners to remove these violent criminals, drugs and firearms from our streets is essential to keeping our communities safe," said MPD Chief Peter Newsham. “We have a collective responsibility to invest our resources in combatting violent crime and holding violent offenders accountable."
“The success of this operation demonstrates the dedication by this Office and our law enforcement partners to keeping our community safe by ensuring that violent offenders are brought to justice," said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael R. Sherwin.
Agencies participating in the operation included: U.S. Marshals Service; D.C. Metropolitan Police Department; U.S. Attorney’s Office; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration; Homeland Security Investigations; Immigrations Customs Enforcement; D.C. Department of Corrections; Metro Transit Police; Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency; Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office; Prince George’s County Police Department; Charles County Sheriff’s Office; Bowie Police Department; Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office; Montgomery County Police Department; Maryland State Police; Maryland Probation and Parole; and the George Mason University Police Department.
“The community is safer now than it was at the start of this operation, thanks to the tireless efforts of all of the local, state and federal law enforcement officers who participated," said ATF Washington Special Agent in Charge Ashan Benedict. “ATF special agents aided locating these fugitives, as well as seizing illegally possessed firearms. We are proud to be part of the team the U.S. Marshals Service created to ensure these offenders were brought back into custody and held accountable."
“The success of this operation is a testament to the partnership among DOJ law enforcement components to take violent criminals and weapons off the streets of our communities," said Robert E. Bornstein, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division. “We are committed to using our combined resources to help make the National Capital Region safer and ensure that those responsible for crimes are held accountable."
“We've been working hard with our partners to turn back this rising tide of violent crime and confront America’s heroin and opioid crisis - targeting and dismantling drug cartels, gangs, along with pursuing violent fugitives that bring drugs, guns, and violence into our neighborhoods," said Special Agent in Charge Jesse R. Fong, of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington Division. “It is impactful work such as this with our partners at the U.S. Marshals Service that makes a huge impact for our Capital Area Region and keeps our country and communities safer."
The Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force is a congressionally supported multi-agency task force whose mission is to focus resources and efforts on the reduction of violence within the National Capital Region through the identification, investigation, and apprehension of fugitives wanted for egregious crimes against the community, while ensuring the application of equal Justice, Integrity, and Service for all.
