BY Elizabeth Barmeier St. Louis
PUBLISHED 4:38 PM CT Jul. 02, 2026

ST. LOUIS — The Justice Department says three missing children were found and 224 fugitives were arrested across eastern Missouri and southern Illinois thanks to a federal law enforcement detail timed for the nation's 250th anniversary weekend.

Operation Patriot Shield began June 1, led by the U.S. Marshals Service in both eastern Missouri and southern Illinois.

“We are out here arresting felons, taking bad guys off the streets,” said Steven Lewis, United States Marshal of Eastern Missouri. “We're not going to stop supporting our community, and we're not going to stop putting handcuffs on bad people.”

Marshals worked with local law enforcement agencies throughout the operation with an emphasis for the eastern Missouri team to work with southern Illinois.

Nearly a kilogram of drugs and 32 firearms were seized during the operation. A total of 8 homicide warrants and 20 warrants for sex offenses were served.

“Our goal with Operation Patriot Shield is to try to head off the typical summer surge in violent crime,” U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus of the Eastern District of Missouri said.

“The U.S. Marshals Service arrested fugitives with active warrants in state and federal court involving crimes ranging from criminal sexual assault to drug trafficking to murder. These are folks who have been actively evading capture, some through the use of an alias and others by fleeing the jurisdiction where they were charged. We have also sought and obtained federal indictments against nearly three dozen people during that period.”

In June, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois indicted 11 defendants for violent crimes, including crimes involving firearms, assault, drugs, and child sexual exploitation.

“To undertake something like this where we were out every day looking for violent felons and taking these people off the streets is a huge accomplishment,” Lewis said.

The goal was to have Operation Patriot Shield completed before the holiday weekend.

“We wanted to try and put some safety in the minds of our public,” Lewis said. “Get the violent felons off the street (and) allow people to celebrate the 250th anniversary with safety in mind.”

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/mo/st-louis/news/2026/07/02/3-missing-children-found--224-fugitive-arrests-in-federal-operation-across-eastern-missouri--southern-illinois