Operation 'Make It Rain' Keeps Grainger County Sex Offenders in Compliance

Knoxville, TN - From January 27 to January 28, U.S. Marshals from the Eastern District of Tennessee, along with Smoky Mountains Fugitive Task Force officers from the Knoxville Police Department, The Knox County Sheriff’s Office, and the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office, assisted the Grainger County Sheriff’s Office in conducting its 2016 sex offender compliance operation. Dubbed “Operation Make It Rain,” officers conducted a county-wide compliance and enforcement initiative to ensure sex offenders were following the guidelines of the sex offender registry. Throughout the two-day operation, officers conducted almost 41 sex offender compliance checks that resulted in the following:

•     Five sex offenders were arrested or detained for further investigation. The individuals were arrested for sex offender registry violations and probation violations.
•     Drug Paraphernalia was also confiscated.
•     Several electronic devices were seized for further forensic examination.

"Operations like Operation ‘Make It Rain’ help us protect our communities and ensure their safety. The Grainger County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshals Service and everyone involved worked diligently to check the sex offenders registered in Grainger County. Our goal is to make sure that to ensure that each and every one of them is following the rules,” stated Grainger County Sheriff James Harville “Sex offenders who come to our county should not come thinking that they can circumvent the law and endanger our children and our citizens" he added.

“The main benefits of operations like this one are three-fold: we ensure the law is being followed; we identify when it is not and protect the citizens of Grainger County from sexual predators who are trying to circumvent the sex offender registry requirements; and we strengthen the ties between all law enforcement agencies involved by closely working together towards a common goal”, stated U.S. Marshals Senior Inspector Derrick Swenson.

The U.S. Marshals Service has three key missions under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006: (1) to assist state, local, tribal and territorial authorities in the location and apprehension of noncompliant sex offenders; (2) to investigate violations of the criminal provisions of the Adam Walsh Act; and (3) to identify and locate displaced sex offenders resulting from a major disaster. Since January 2009, the Marshals have partnered with law enforcement personnel from more than 3,000 state and local agencies to coordinate and execute sex offender compliance/enforcement operations throughout the country.