Five Missing Teenage Girls Found, 30 Sex Offenders Arrested in New Orleans

A United States Marshal investigation concluded in late December with the arrests of 30 sexual offenders.

The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) New Orleans Task Force for Louisiana’s Eastern District conducted “Operation Boo Dat” between mid-October and December 24, 2021. They partnered with a number of city and parish law enforcement agencies, like the New Orleans Police Department, Sheriffs from Orleans and Jefferson parishes, and Louisiana State Police.

According to Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fair, five teenagers listed as either missing or endangered were recovered during the operation.

Fair said one of the rescued teens was a 14-year-old girl they found living in a New Orleans motel room that reeked of alcohol and marijuana. Officers found two other young girls — one was 15, the other 17 — staying in the same room. The three young girls left a previous hotel room they shared with adult men from Baton Rouge because those men stranded them after one man’s cousin was shot.

A 15-year-old runaway girl was found who police said had prior human sex trafficking issues in Baton Rouge, adding her pimp had recently been murdered. She was found in her 17-year-old boyfriend’s apartment in New Orleans. Police further learned she regularly left the apartment to meet with adult men in “The Big Easy.” The case may be linked with an armed robbery in the same area, according to Fair’s statement.

Police also found two missing teenage sisters. The 16-year old was reported missing from St. Tammany Parish. Her 15-year-old sister had been reported missing out of Baton Rouge.

“Both females may be victims of adult(s) felony criminal sexual activities and they were recovered at an apartment in Baton Rouge with critical support from USMS Middle District of Louisiana and Baton Rouge Police Department,” said the Marshal.

The fifth recovered child is a 16-year-old girl who ran away from her residence in Marrero after allegedly stealing a relative’s vehicle and a handgun. She was found at a residence in “The Birthplace of Jazz” living with several adults. One of her adult roommates was a female who dances at a strip club.

Officers made a number of notable arrests.

“The early morning December 10, 2021, arrest of tier 3 sex offender Lorenzo Oliver on a December 2021 felony warrant from the New Orleans Police Department related to the alleged first-degree rape of a 12-year-old female victim in an abandoned residence on the West Bank of New Orleans,” Fair said. He added Oliver was previously convicted of attempted forcible rape in 2015.

A sex offender staying at a New Orleans homeless shelter under a false name was arrested on a Texas Department of Corrections parole warrant. That warrant was reportedly based on a prior conviction for failure to register as a sex offender. His original 1987 conviction in Idaho involved a 7-year-old female victim, the Marshal said.

Marshals arrested another man wanted on a 2019 Mississippi warrant for failure to register as a sex offender. Police said his original 1996 East Baton Rouge parish conviction was for the molestation of a juvenile. His victim was reportedly a 9-year-old girl.

Another 17 people were arrested during the months-long sweep for felony sex offender registration violations.

More than 100 sex offender compliance checks were also attempted or completed in Orleans and Jefferson parishes during Operation Boo Dat.

“Sex offender compliance checks require law enforcement officers to go to the sex offender’s reported address of residence to verify that the person still lives at the provided address,” Fair explained. “Often countless hours of follow-up investigative work are required during and after a compliance check.”