Flagstaff AZ (February 22, 2013) – Early Friday morning, February 22, 2013, a Multi-Agency Task Force comprised of law enforcement officers from the United States Marshals Service (USMS) – Child Predator Apprehension Team (CPAT), Coconino County Sheriff’s Office and the Flagstaff Police Department arrested eight non-compliant sex offenders who live in rural neighborhoods of Coconino County.

In preparation for this enforcement detail, Coconino County Sheriff’s detectives and administrative personnel compiled a list of convicted sex offenders living in neighborhoods in the greater Flagstaff area. Eighteen of the registered sex offenders that were audited were in compliance and eight were out of compliance.

Detectives met with the Coconino County Attorney’s Office and filed complaints on these individuals for failure to confirm annually their online identifiers. Per Arizona State Statutes, sex offender registration requires reporting of online identifiers at least annually and within 72 hours of any changes to online identifiers. Arrest warrants were issued by a Coconino County Grand Jury.

Task Force members were able to locate all eight offenders for which felony arrest warrants were issued. The following individuals were arrested on the felony warrants issued. Bond on each is listed at $5,000 cash or secured, plus 83% surcharge:

• Walter Perry Christopher, 35 years of age, Doney Park area
• John Alexander Palmer, 46 years of age, Timberline area
• Michael Lawrence Boggs, 50 years of age, Doney Park area
• Alexander David Mitchelson, 45 years of age, Sunset Crater Estates area
• Danvin Calvin Harvey, 38 years of age, Winona area
• Brian Neil Bachstein, 52 years of age, Doney Park area
• Herbert G. Babbitt Jr., 70 years of age, Kachina Village area
• John M. Carter, 61 years of age, Parks area

Members of the Task force also conducted eighteen compliance checks on registered sex offenders. 

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 USMS has 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.

The Child Predator Apprehension Team is a dedicated unit of the United States Marshals Arizona WANTED Fugitive Task Force which specializes in capturing offenders who commit crimes against children. The Arizona WANTED Task Force has units in Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma and Flagstaff.

In an effort to insure registered sex offenders in Coconino County are in compliance with Arizona State Statute similar enforcement details are anticipated in the future.

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