36 convicted sex offenders arrested in Virginia on immigration violations

RICHMOND

State and federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday they have identified 255 sex offenders convicted in Virginia who - unbeknownst to authorities - are not American citizens.

Many were here illegally and others were legal immigrants, the officials said. Some already have left the country. Others were found serving time in Virginia jails or prisons, and still others had completed their sentences and were living in the community.

The identities of the felons, which state and federal officials declined to make public during a news conference Wednesday, were discovered during a joint effort by state and federal officials to compare immigration and sex offender records.

Of those identified, 36 are sex offenders who had served their sentence and had been released. In recent weeks, federal immigrant agents detained the 36 people and deportation proceedings have begun, Attorney General Bob McDonnell said.

Authorities also identified 84 sex offenders who had served time in Virginia but have since left the country.

An added 135 sex offenders who are not citizens were identified in Virginia's jails or prisons, he said. Those offenders will be deported after they serve their sentences as part of a new initiative called "Operation Cold Play" between McDonnell's office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Virginia State Police.

"It heightens the level of coordination in identifying sex offenders," McDonnell said.

Officials provided a list of cities and crimes for the 36 unnamed sex offenders who recently were detained. Most lived in Northern Virginia and had been convicted of offenses that include rape, assault, sexual battery and indecent exposure. The sole mention of South Hampton Roads was the detainment of a Norfolk person who was from India and had been convicted of taking indecent liberties with children. The countries of origin for those recently detained include nations in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and South and Central America.

Some of the 36 offenders had green cards, according to William Reid, a resident agent in charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Most of them had been convicted within the past decade, Virginia State Police Superintendant Col. W. Steven Flaherty said. Authorities declined to release any more information about the 36 offenders and would not provide specific details about the other 219 people identified by their investigation.

McDonnell acknowledged the recent arrests show that law enforcement authorities haven't been doing as good a job as they could in identifying the legal status of convicted sex offenders. As part of the initiative, law enforcement authorities also plan to check the immigration status of the roughly 35,000 convicted felons in the Virginia Department of Corrections system.

"We've got a lot more work to do," McDonnell said. "This is a great first step."

The initiative began in July, when McDonnell asked state police to go through the roughly 14,500 names in the Virginia Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry to find out how many were foreign-born.

State police forwarded the names to agents at ICE, which identified the 255 offenders.

McDonnell referred all questions about the identities of the sex offenders to ICE.

ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs said the agency had been advised by attorneys not to release their identities, citing privacy concerns.

Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the state police, said because the people were arrested by ICE agents for federal offenses, the state police could not release their names.

Jen McCaffery, (757) 446-2627, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com