Exclusive: US Marshals, Boston Police Team Up To Arrest Sex Offender
BOSTON (CBS) – At sunrise Thursday, the US Marshals and Boston Police teamed up to try to track down a convicted sex offender wanted in Fairfield, Connecticut for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl. They developed information that 30-year-old Arterrio Johnson, who's been on the run for a month, was in Mattapan.
Sean Bianchi, the Senior Inspector for the US Marshals Sex Offender Investigations Branch, reads the team the information about their target: "He's got braids and a small goatee. Six feet tall, 200 pounds."
The next stop was Orlando Street.
The Boston Police Fugitive Unit, Boston Police Special Operations Unit and the US Marshals surround the house. After banging on the door, someone answers. Johnson is asleep on the couch. They take him into custody and make the arrest.
Bianchi explains, "It was important to get this target this morning because this individual felt like it was okay to have a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl."
Boston is the first city in the nation that has dedicated a full time police office to the US Marshals Sex Offender Investigation Branch. Every day, Detective Sgt. Rick Johnson works with Bianchi on unregistered sex offender cases.
Det. Sgt. Johnson says, "We want to get them in compliance and to look out for our community. We want to look out for the potential victims that are out there."
Tim Orava, a Senior Inspector with the US Marshals Sex Offender Investigations Branch, oversees the operations for New England. He says, "We're a big team out there. We're going to make sure we do everything we can to get every sex offender that is not in compliance, in compliance, and track down those that don't."
Bianchi explains, "A lot of these offenders they travel in and around different cities, towns and inner state and fail to register. It's important that they are identified due to the nature of their original convictions and crimes."
This tip came to the Marshals from a local department. "We'll work with anybody," says Bianchi. "We're just here to get these guys locked up if they're not compliant."
