Endangered Children Rescued, Sex Offenders Arrested in U.S. Marshals Operation in New Orleans

Hard work done by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies are giving new life to missing/endangered children and is putting sex offenders behind bars.

Operations Missing Child Unit (MCU) ‘Return of the School Year’ and Sex Offender Investigations Branch (SOIB) ‘NO Saints and Sinners 2021’ - led by the U.S. Marshals Service Eastern District of Louisiana New Orleans Task Force (USMS) - teamed up with state and local police agencies over August and September to rescue or recover 8 missing/endangered children, and helped an additional 3 children self-return and locate 3 more.

In one case, a female teen was en route to Las Vegas, Nevada, to meet up with an older male she met online. That's according to a press release from the U.S. Marshals Office, which says she was found in Phoenix, Arizona.

Possible gang activity and allegations of human sex trafficking of minors were uncovered by agents and released in their report. 18 people were arrested in sex offender enforcement and compliance checks.

One person arrested - Roman E. Byler - was wanted out of Delaware with a rap sheet that includes two prior felony sex-based convictions with juveniles and was living in New Orleans in a high drug trafficking area.

Gerald Dominick - a Fugitive Tier 3 sec offender - was wanted on a Louisiana State Police warrant for felony Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. Authorities say he was living in Westwego and tried to hide in a bedroom before being arrested by State Police.

Six additional fugitives were arrested including an adult male wanted by New Orleans Police for alleged Sexual Battery on a 7-year-old victim, another adult male wanted on two counts of Production of Child Porn on a 14-year-old female, and an adult male accused in a 1989 Aggravated Rape and Aggravated Kidnapping case that he was recently identified via a DNA kit. The alleged habitual offender had recently been released from prison.