Public safety officials have identified 90 people convicted of sex crimes in Maricopa County who have failed to register as a sex offender; 26 have been rearrested so far.
The identification and arrests were made as part of a joint operation between the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Marshall Service and the Phoenix Police Department.
This is the eighth year the agencies have worked together on the effort in the weeks leading up to Halloween. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said there are about 6,000 convicted sex offenders in Arizona.
"About 10 percent of those, 600, are absconders," explained Montgomery. "In other words, we have no idea where they are. Which is a big big number."
Montgomery said some of the individuals identified were avoiding detection by working for cash and at least one tried to fake his death.
