More than nine hundred felons have been arrested in Orange County over a three-week period, part of a major state-wide sweep, Orange County Sheriff’s Jerry Demings announced Thursday.
Dubbed ‘Operation Felon Sweep,’ Demings described the operation as “very significant” with the arrests in Orange County accounting for 8 percent of the nearly 12,000 felons that were arrested state-wide.
The 962 felony arrests made in Orange County represent nearly 14 percent of felony warrants. There are 28,000 active warrants in Orange County alone.
Most of those arrested have committed crimes related to aggravated battery, felony domestic violence and firearm-related offenses. Other crimes relate to drugs, burglary, grand theft and at least one case of attempted murder.
Asked whether the timing of ‘Operation Felon Sweep’ was not suspicious, in view of the November 6th election, Demings brushed off any such suggestion saying, the coordinated operation had been discussed and agreed upon at the Summer Conference of Florida Sheriffs.
“Why not now?,” he said. “…We do this everyday, we have a full-time Fugitive Unit and it just so happens we did it in conjunction with this state-wide initiative.”
‘Operation Felon Sweep’ was headed by the Florida Sheriff’s Task Force and conducted during the period September 28 – October 22. The operation was carried out in conjunction with 43 Sheriff’s Offices across the state and the U.S. Marshal’s Task Force.
