KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ An additional 59 people have been arrested as part of the federal anti-violent crime initiative Operation LeGend, according to a release Friday from the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Of those arrested since Aug. 1, six new defendants face federal charges, meaning Operation LeGend has so far resulted in 17 federal cases, the release said.
All of the new federal defendants have been charged with firearms-related charges, including four accused of being felons in possession of firearms. One was charged with illegally possessing a firearm and heroin trafficking and another was charged with participating in a conspiracy to commit armed robberies at local businesses, the release said.
Of the other 53 arrests made in the past week, officials said 35 were fugitives with either state or federal warrants for their arrests, and the remaining 18 were referred to state courts for prosecution.
Seven arrests in the past week were for homicides, increasing the total number of homicide arrests in Operation LeGend to 12. Other arrests made in the past week were for assault, drug trafficking, illegally possessing firearms, robbery, bank robbery, child molestation, sexual assault, possessing stolen property and possessing stolen firearms, officials said.
Officers and agents also seized 17 firearms, stolen vehicles and motorcycles, 210 THC cartridges, quantities of cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana and $52,000. A total of 52 firearms have been seized during Operation LeGend so far, officials said.
"We are working arm in arm with our state and local law enforcement partners," U.S. Attorney Timothy Garrison told members of The Kansas City Star's Editorial Board on Facebook Live Thursday when discussing 12 of the suspects who have been arrested for homicides.
Of four of those cases reviewed by The Star, charging documents in one case noted federal assistance.
In that case, which led to a second-degree murder charge, detectives said agents helped with surveillance. The suspect, Antoine Cotton, 42, was charged in the June 15 fatal beating of Hoang Dinh, 51, in Kansas City.
One of the 12 arrests referenced by Garrison was that of a fugitive from Indiana who was hiding out in Kansas City, Ledford told The Star. That suspect was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Another suspect wanted for murder was arrested Wednesday following the weekly shooting reviews, where Kansas City police and other agencies analyze the past week's shootings, Garrison said.
Using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives linked the gun found on the suspect to four other shootings, he said.
That case was referred to a local prosecutor's office, Garrison said. The suspect's name has not been released.
"That's the kind of partnership that was already ongoing previous to Operation LeGend," he said, "and is now simply being supplemented in a more robust way with these additional forces."
Garrison said each agency brings something important to the effort. The FBI conducts complex investigations; the Drug Enforcement Administration connects dots between drug trafficking and violence; the ATF has "incredible technical capabilities" for tracking firearms; the Marshals Service finds fugitives, he said.
"It's our intent and our hope that these additional resources can get us over the hump and get things under control as they have spiked here in Kansas City," Garrison said.
More than 120 people have been killed in homicides this year in Kansas City, according to data maintained by The Star. By this time last year, there had been 89 killings.
Before Thursday, the U.S. attorney's office had announced that five suspects wanted in homicides had been arrested as part of the operation.
That included the arrest of 44-year-old Joel Roseberry, who was charged with second-degree murder in the March 1 fatal shooting of Frederick Outley, 28, in Kansas City. Federal agents assisted in his apprehension.
As part of the operation, U.S. Marshals Service deputies assisted in arresting Sean and Korey Matlock, who were charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old SirJohn Harris in Independence.
Korey Matlock was also captured with the help of DEA agents, Ledford said.
During the Facebook Live, Star columnist Toriano Porter asked Garrison how citizens can trust that the U.S. attorney's office is not "slapping Operation LeGend on routine, regular arrests."
Garrison said the office counts cases that involve agents integrated with local police through the operation.
"It's important to understand," he responded, "that we're not here to try to run up the score."
It was announced Thursday the operation was being extended to St. Louis and Memphis. It was recently expanded to Chicago, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee.
The operation is named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot in June in Kansas City.
