NEW ORLEANS — A 5-month, multi-agency operation to make sure convicted sex offenders in the New Orleans area were complying with the law ended this month with 69 arrests made and the recovery of multiple missing juveniles.
The U.S. Marshal Service launched "Operation NOLA Saints and Sinner 2019" at the beginning of April and conducted nearly 250 compliance checks on area sex offenders to ensure they were in line with the registration rules after their convictions. The operation ended on September 14.
The USMS reports that in total, 242 check-ins were done by their "Task Force New Orleans," which included officers from the Louisiana State Police, Louisiana Probation and Parole Office, Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office, JPSO, OPSO and NOPD.
Those compliance checks resulted in 69 arrests and several other notable recoveries, like finding endangered children, weapons and sex offenders living too close to schools.
The operation led to the recovery of five endangered juveniles in total. In one investigation in April, NOPD, state police and the FBI reportedly found a missing 15-year-old girl in New Orleans' Gentilly neighborhood. Two men were arrested, one of whom was a convicted felon in possession of an illegal firearm, USMS officials said.
68-year-old Stanley Burkhardt, the disgraced former commander of the NOPD’s pedophile division who was twice convicted as a sexual predator, was also re-arrested as part of the "NOLA Saints and Sinners 2019" operation.
Burkhardt had been commander of the NOPD’s child sexual abuse division until his 1987 arrest for aggravated crime against nature. After serving time in state prison, Burkhardt was convicted on federal child pornography charges in 1999. He was arrested in July for failing to register.
In May, NOPD officers reportedly found and arrested two men in connection to the rape of 13-year-old runaway girl in the French Quarter. Also in New Orleans, two registered sex offenders were found living near schools, with one living less than 25 yards from an elementary school, according to USMS officials.
In continuation of "NOLA Saints and Sinners 2019," the Task Force is searching for two other registered sex offenders wanted on multiple registration violations.
31-year-old Jeremiah Shawn Prater (left) and 19-year-old Kendrick Dimitri Perkins are both considered dangerous by police.
Prater is wanted on three felony warrants. He was convicted in 2017 of indecent behavior with a 16-year-old. He has prior offenses of domestic battery and battery on a police officer and is listed to have "violent tendencies," USMS officials said.
Perkins is wanted for failure to register as a sex offender. He was convicted in 2018 for the rape of a 12-year-old girl. Police say he is considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information that could help lead to arrests can call the USMS anonymously at (504)589-6872 or email usms.wanted@usdoj.gov
