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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Arrests by the Northern District of West Virginia Office of the United States Marshall’s are reaching pre-pandemic levels.
After a year since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marshall’s office is on pace to surpass the number of arrests made this year in comparison to 2020. According to Acting United States Marshall for the Northern District of West Virginia Terry Moore, the approximately 550 arrests that were executed in 2020, have already been matched as we start the month of October in 2021.
“In the Northern District of West Virginia, we arrested 547 (in 2020), in 2021 we’ve arrested 507,” said Moore detailing numbers released as of Thursday. “So we’re definitely on pace to well surpass our numbers this year,” he said.
The majority of those arrests, according to Moore, stem from drug or violent related offenses in North Central West Virginia. Due to a significant amount of their efforts focused on federal crimes, drug and violent crime arrests made by the United States Marshall’s Office in 2021 accounted for over half of them made in North Central West Virginia. Moore also stated that a fair amount of those violent crimes, had drug related offenses as part of their arrests.
“Ours would probably be on the high end, if I had to estimate drug related arrests, I would say they’re probably about seventy percent,” said Moore elaborating on the amount of arrests in the Northern District.
Despite limitations as a result of the pandemic, Moore stated that the United States Marshall’s Office of the Northern District of West Virginia has been continuing efforts to combat drug trafficking and related violence affecting the region. This includes daily communications with local law enforcement in every county in the Northern District and the local municipalities in them. These daily efforts by law enforcement, both on a federal and local level, are being shown by the arrests being made in a problem that has embedded West Virginia for over a decade.
“And just identify where the majority of their investigations are ongoing,” said Moore elaborating on the daily discussions. “And you know offer assistance and supply our personnel to assist in the area and locate the fugitives,” he said.
The efforts by United States Marshall’s Office and local law enforcement entities, are expected to continue. This includes involvement in Operation Legend, which works to crack down on multi-state drug operations that have affected West Virginia along with local operations such as the Mon Metro Drug Task Force, which includes cooperation with the Monongalia County Sheriff’s and Morgantown Police departments. These collaborations, while definitely part of a long-term fight, are part of a unified effort to affect the drug trade in West Virginia, and it’s side effects.
“I definitely would commend the state and local agencies and other federal agencies in the area for the drug investigations that they do,” said Moore. “And I do think it helps our communities,” he said.