The US Marshals Service completed a multiweek enforcement operation that resulted in the arrest of 27 Arizona fugitives for sex offenses, authorities announced Monday.
“Operation Adam’s Watch” was named to recognize 20 years since of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which aims to identify, locate, and apprehend noncompliant sex offenders.
The USMS said that Arizona investigators targeted 186 sex offenders and completed 116 compliance inspections. This resulted in the arrest of 12 fugitives who had failed to register as sex offenders, as well as 15 people wanted for sexual assault or other sex offenses.
Clearance Martin, 57, was one of the sex offenders arrested. He had allegedly failed to register himself and was now wanted on fresh charges of two counts of sexual contact with a minor, child molestation, and sexual assault.
The USMS collaborated with the Apache Junction Police Department on the Arizona WANTED Violent Offender Task Force to identify the fugitive, who fled to Tyler, Texas, where he had family links. He was arrested in an auto shop.
The same task team was involved in a separate investigation that led to the arrest of John Lincoln Sperry earlier this month in connection with a 2004 cold case.
“The USMS, with its robust network of federal, state, and local partners, was the logical choice to implement the Adam Walsh Act,” stated Gadyaces Serralta, Director of the United States Marshals Service, in a news release. “We are the world’s best at locating people. We have tools and talent that no one else has. When the Adam Walsh Act became legislation, it made sense for us and our partners to ensure that noncompliant sex offenders are removed from the streets and no longer pose a threat to those who could become victims.”
The Arizona arrests were part of the “Operation Adam’s Watch” raid, which covered 37 federal judicial districts and geographic areas and resulted in over 330 fugitive arrests worldwide. The effort involved 12 different Arizona agencies.
“As we mark Adam Walsh Remembrance Day and the 20th anniversary of the Adam Walsh Act, I’m reminded that my brother’s legacy is defined not by what happened to him, but by the lives that continue to be protected because people refused to let his story end in tragedy,” said Callahan Walsh, executive director of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, in the release. “Every time the United States Marshals Service apprehends a child-threatening felon, and every time NCMEC assists law enforcement in recovering a missing child or supporting an investigation, we continue on that legacy.
“Together, we’re proving that the strongest tool we have to protect children is partnership.”
Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old kid, was abducted and killed in 1981. Adam’s parents, John and Revé Walsh, created the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984 to help families with missing children.
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