5 girls found, 30 adults arrested in sex trafficking bust in New Orleans
Jan 3, 2022, 4:22 PM | Updated: Jan 4, 2022, 6:39 am
(Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS — Five missing teenage girls that were considered endangered were found in a lengthy, monthslong rescue by multiple agencies in Louisiana. According to an article by NBC, the operation titled, “Boo Dat,” involved multiple agencies including the New Orleans Police Department, U.S. Marshalls Service New Orleans Task Force and Louisiana State Police. The operation was completed over a period of months between mid-October to Dec. 24.
The girls, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were located in a variety of places. Two of the girls were sisters, ages 15 and 16 and it is believed they “may have been victims of adult felony criminal sexual activities,” according to a release. The girls were located at an apartment in Baton Rouge.
Thirty people were arrested and 17 of the 30 people had violated their sex offender registry restrictions.
One of the people arrested, Lorenzo Oliver, is a third-tier sex offender, the most serious offense. He was previously arrested for the alleged first-degree rape of a 12-year-old girl, according to a felony warrant from December 2021.
In 2015, Oliver was ordered to register as a sex offender for life after he was convicted of forcible rape and sexual battery.
He had also been charged years earlier in 2013 for following a woman into the State Library of Louisiana and attempting to rape her.
A 17-year-old girl who was was “known to have prior ties to several female runaways from New Orleans as well as ties to organized gang activities,” was also arrested in Hammond, Louisiana, for human trafficking charges.
Lamonte Versill Morris was another high-profile arrest in the case. Morris had a warrant out of San Patricio County, Texas, for an alleged aggravated assault of a 14-year-old. Authorities said he had gone on the run and was arrested in New Orleans on Oct. 29.
Through this operation by many law enforcement agencies, the release said they had done over 100 sex offender compliance checks in the Orleans and Jefferson parishes.
Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Marshal Scott Illing stated, “with critical assistance from our state and local partners along with Crimestoppers GNO we continue our daily efforts to make the Eastern District of Louisiana safer. The results of this operation were only accomplished via law enforcement teamwork and USMS New Orleans Task Force along with our local, state, and federal partners continue to support the Sex Offender Investigations and Missing Child Unit missions of the USMS along with ongoing investigations of violent felony offender fugitives across the Eastern District of Louisiana.”