U.S. Marshals Launch G8 Wanted Child Sex Offender Website

March 24, 2010 - Washington – The Department of Justice via the U.S. Marshals Service has launched a Web site, www.usmarshals.gov/investigations/g8/index.html, highlighting the 10 most wanted sex offenders in the United States. Seven other countries have also launched similar sites.

The U.S. G8-affiliated Wanted Child Sex Offender initiative, in collaboration with INTERPOL, aims to identify and apprehend wanted child sex offenders from the G8 countries – United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia – by bringing together initiatives relating to child sex offenders.

The U.S. Marshals Service is leading the U.S. participation in the G8 Most Wanted initiative through the National Sex Offender Targeting Center (NSOTC). The NSOTC is designed to be an interagency intelligence and operations center supporting the identification, investigation, location, apprehension and prosecution of non-compliant, unregistered fugitive sex offenders.

“We are excited to be the lead U.S. law enforcement agency on this initiative,” said Dave Harlow, Chief of the U.S. Marshals Sex Offender Investigations Branch. “We are dedicated to taking child sex offenders off the streets of America. This Web site is a welcome new tool we can use to accomplish our mission.”

Partner G8 Wanted Child Sex Offender (WCSO) countries are committed to locating child sex offenders who are evading the authorities and continue to represent a threat to children. The initiative is not aimed at “naming and shaming” all wanted child sex offenders, but rather to direct public attention to pictures of offenders whose locations are unknown in order to locate them.

“The G8 Wanted Child Sex Offender initiative and Interpol are great resources that recognize the importance of international cooperation,” said Geoff Shank, Deputy Assistant Director of the U.S. Marshals Investigative Operations Division. “As the U.S. lead in this initiative, the U.S. Marshals bring international operational expertise that in 2009 resulted in over 500 international multi-jurisdictional arrests. Together we are collaboratively extending the Long Arm of the Law to ensure the safety of our most vulnerable.”

Any identification of an individual should be reported directly to the U.S. Marshals Service. Under no circumstances should the public take any actions themselves. The U.S. Marshals also warns the public against any vigilante action against offenders.