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HOUSTON - At least 23 people who evacuated to Houston during Hurricane Katrina were either the victim or the suspect in killings here between September and December, police say.
Now, eight members of rival New Orleans gangs have been arrested in connection with the slayings of 11 fellow evacuees and other violent crimes in the city, police spokesman Alvin Wright said Friday.
"They were doing the same thing in New Orleans," Wright said. "The hurricane brought those rivalries to Houston."
Investigators, still looking for three suspects, said those slain also belonged to the gangs or had some connection. Violent crimes attributed to these gangs also have been committed on Houston residents, Wright said.
Officials emphasized the vast majority of the 150,000 Katrina victims who have moved to Houston are law-abiding, but say others are partly responsible for a sharp spike in the crime rate in the last few months of 2005. Houston Mayor Bill White has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency last month to pay for a new $6.5 million police task force.
The eight arrested Friday and three at large are accused of murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes.
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held in Houston shootings are Katrina evacuees By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press 1/28/2006 |
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HOUSTON
- Eight members of rival New Orleans gangs who had moved to Houston after
Hurricane Katrina have been arrested in connection with the slayings of 11
fellow evacuees and other violent crimes, police said Friday.
Investigators, who were still looking for three suspects, said the victims also belonged to the gangs or had some connection to them. Violent crimes attributed to these gangs also have been committed on Houston residents, said police spokesman Alvin Wright. "They were doing the same thing in New Orleans," Wright said. "The hurricane brought those rivalries to Houston." Although officials emphasized that the vast majority of the 150,000 Katrina victims who have moved to Houston are law-abiding, they say others are partly responsible for a sharp spike in the city's crime rate in the last few months of 2005. Houston Mayor Bill White asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency last month to pay for a new $6.5 million police task force for the city. At least 23 evacuees in Houston were either the victim or the suspect in killings between September and December, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the city's homicides in that span. Violence has risen not only on the streets but in the schools, which absorbed about 6,000 student evacuees and increased security this month after at least a dozen major fights involving displaced students. The worst was a near-riot in a high school lunchroom last month that ended in the arrests of 15 evacuees and 12 local students. The eight suspects arrested Friday and three at large are accused of murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes. All 11 slayings took place in the last three months. Nine occurred in the city's high-crime southwest side, while the other two were in the Houston suburb of Pasadena. "The safety of the city of Houston, its citizens and as well as some of the evacuees depends on us arresting these individuals as soon as possible," Police Chief Harold Hurtt said. Authorities would not name the gangs or say how many members of each group were arrested. Texas authorities previously captured fugitives, including at least 10 in the Houston area, who had applied for federal aid as Katrina evacuees but were wanted for violent crimes in Louisiana. Federal authorities have told Texas of more than 300 known sex offenders who had relocated to the state after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August, only a handful of whom had registered with law enforcement as of late last year. An additional inquiry that Texas authorities conducted with the National Crime Information Center found 188 evacuees wanted in connection with other crimes. |
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Mark Garay(1/10/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - The man arrested for the abduction and rape of a Houston woman was out on parole when it happened last week. In fact, he was a fugitive.
The good news is that the man suspected of raping a 57-year-old woman is behind bars. The bad news is, he's been in and out of jail for 30 years. Long sentences have been reduced to parole. He's a convicted violent felon who was unaccounted for prior to his arrest Monday. Sadly, his story is just the tip of the iceberg.
"Basically, he's got a rap sheet a mile long," said Andy Kahan with the Mayor's Crime Victims' Assistance office.
The new details surrounding Charles Anderson's past may seem bewildering. Anderson was arrested Monday, charged with the New Year's day abduction and rape of a 57-year-old woman.
But check out his record:
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has a parole office here in Houston, but officials there declined comment on the Anderson case. Instead, they referred us to their state office in Austin.
Of the more than 3,200 fugitive parolees, 78 had committed sex offenses and 58 were convicted of homicide. When you add kidnappers, arsonists and other violent criminals, 494 felons in Harris County are roaming the streets unaccounted for.
Kahan said, "They're basically telling you, 'I don't care, I'm not going to abide by my rules and conditions of release. So what on earth makes you think I'm going to abide by anything else?' "
With so many parolees loose, Kahan and his office petitioned the last legislature to charge absconders with a felony. Currently, captured fugitive parolees face technical violations, which don't guarantee additional jail time. But Kahan's efforts to make absconded parolees more accountable fell on deaf ears. He hopes cases like this one might make lawmakers think twice.
"There are catalysts for everything," he said. "And if a case like this can help us pass that law, then there's nothing I like better than turning a negative into a positive."
We contacted the state parole office in Austin early Tuesday afternoon. But by press time, we had received no comment on either the Anderson case, or the large number of parole absconders here in Harris County.