LOS ANGELES – Local and federal law enforcement arrested 20 suspects wanted for murder or attempted murder in Los Angeles and other cities in the past two months, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced Friday.
The suspects have been taken into custody due to the efforts of the Fugitive Task Force in Los Angeles. The task force is a collaboration that has been in place for more than two decades with full time participation by FBI Agents; Detectives and Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department; Agents with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Parole Division; and Officers with Los Angeles County Probation.
The task force receives considerable assistance from Detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Agents with Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), including Agents with ICE-Homeland Security Investigations.
The task force specializes in finding fugitives who are suspected in crimes that occur in the Los Angeles area, or suspects who flee from another jurisdiction to the Los Angeles area. The task force makes arrests on behalf of homicide investigators to whom a homicide case is assigned.
Once a homicide detective identifies a suspect and obtains a warrant, the Fugitive Task Force may be requested to locate the suspect and return him or her to the jurisdiction for prosecution.
“The FBI’s Fugitive Task Force is an invaluable resource for both local and federal investigators seeking fugitives from justice who, in many cases, leave the immediate area, the state, or who flee internationally,” said Deirdre Fike, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
“There is no doubt that dangerous criminals have been apprehended before additional crimes were committed due to the essential work of the task force partnership in Los Angeles.”