KC arrests Barr wrongly cited were made months earlier, led to no new federal charges
When U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced Wednesday the expansion of federal anti-crime initiatives, he baffled officials in Kansas City with a single statement.
“Just to give you an idea of what’s possible, the FBI went in very strong into Kansas City and within two weeks we’ve had 200 arrests,” Barr said of apprehensions made as part of a new effort called Operation Legend.
But after inquiries from The Star and pushback from local officials, a senior Justice Department official clarified Barr’s comments, saying the 200 figure included state and FBI arrests in joint operations dating back to December as part of another operation, Relentless Pursuit.
Barr’s false claim, livestreamed by the White House, raised questions about the Justice Department’s trustworthiness. And the point Barr apparently was illustrating only grew shakier Thursday as officials in Kansas City clarified further that the arrests that did occur resulted in no new federal charges — with the exception of one case announced earlier this week.
“Trust grows out of credibility, and credibility grows out of clear communication,” said U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, a former Kansas City mayor and a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “It appears that the people in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City are working out of good intentions, but right now they are being damaged by Washington’s lack of credibility and believability.”
Stephen Hill, Jr., who served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton, said the use of data from an earlier effort raised the question of whether Operation Legend was really a new approach, or just a new name pasted onto an effort announced last year.
The operation is named after LeGend Tailferro, a 4-year-old boy who was shot and killed as he slept last month in Kansas City.
“At a time when confidence and trust in the Department of Justice and federal law enforcement is at a low point, the last thing you want is to have someone suggest you are padding your numbers to make a political point or that the Attorney General is unaware of the situation on the ground in Kansas City,” Hill said. “Either one hurts the effort and the public confidence it needs to be successful.”
Relentless Pursuit
Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City, said Thursday that nearly 200 arrests had been made locally as part of Operation Relentless Pursuit, an initiative announced in December that combined federal, state and local resources to combat violent crime in Kansas City and six other cities, including Detroit and Baltimore.
Those arrests were made during the first phase of Operation Relentless Pursuit, which came to a halt as the new coronavirus pandemic spread across the country.
The people arrested were primarily fugitives caught by the U.S. Marshals Service, which works with police, on warrants for local charges, Ledford said. None of those arrests resulted in federal charges, he said. He was not sure what their charges were.
“There were no arrests for several months,” Ledford said of Operation Relentless Pursuit. “So that 200 number, yeah, goes back a few months.”
Some federal agents that were expected to come to Kansas City for Operation Relentless Pursuit could not because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That operation has not started up again.
So as federal prosecutors watched homicides and nonfatal shootings spike in Kansas City, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri realized “this was an emergency situation” that required more law enforcement, Ledford said.
Agents came to Kansas City this week for Operation Legend, though it was unclear if all 225 had arrived.
A Justice Department official Wednesday said Operation Legend was “essentially a continuation” of Operation Relentless Pursuit. But Ledford said Operation Legend was designed specifically for Kansas City and involved more agents.
“In our mind, even though it’s a similar concept, there are also important differences,” Ledford said.
To some in the community, including Stacy Shaw, an attorney who has been vocal at recent protests, Operation Legend appeared to have been “repackaged twice,” saying federal agents have already been surging into the region.
“It’s the same operation, it just has a different name,” Shaw said. “I’m not surprised that the Trump administration lies . . . I don’t trust that they have any integrity or transparency in this operation.”
One man charged
Since Operation Legend began, federal prosecutors have announced charges against one defendant.
Monty Ray, 20, of Kansas City, was charged Monday with being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms. He was allegedly found in a stolen car with firearms and accused of running over an officer’s foot weeks earlier.
More arrests have been made as part of the operation. Federal prosecutors expect to announce additional charges in the near future, Ledford said.
Following Barr’s comments Wednesday at a news conference, Matthew Miller, who led the Justice Department’s public affairs from 2009 to 2011 during President Barack Obama’s administration, was shocked by Barr’s inaccuracy.
“What the hell is going on at DOJ?” he tweeted.
Before The Star debunked Barr’s false assertion, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas cast doubt on the claim that 200 people had been arrested in two weeks.
“You can’t verify it because nothing can be verified,” he said. “This is where some of the confusion goes on.”
Lucas has spoken with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, whose cities Operation Legend has been expanded to. The three, he said, share “concerns that the operation could expand beyond as it’s been described.”
Vernon Howard, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said Barr’s false claim was an example of the disconnect between the policy makers and what’s actually happening in Kansas City.
“Just as Mr. Barr was not aware of how many arrests have taken place,” he said, “Mr. Barr and other policy makers who support this are not aware of the sentiments and perspectives of people on the ground who are being impacted by this quasi-occupation.”
Instead of sending in federal agents to “round up young Black men and women,” Howard said, the focus should be on reforming the Kansas City Police Department. He asked if the additional federal presence will be permanent.
“Our community deserves more, deserves better,” Howard said. “We are more valuable than that.”
As she joined Barr and other officials at the Wednesday news conference, LeGend’s mother, Charron Powell, said she supported the operation. She reiterated that it was intended to help investigate unsolved killings, not cause harm.
“My one and only child, who fought through open heart surgery at 4 months, is gone due to senseless gun violence,” she said. “Children are suppose to be our future, and our 4-year-old son didn’t make it to kindergarten.”
Some have feared the federal assistance in Kansas City will resemble Portland, where the U.S. attorney is investigating reports of protesters being detained without probable cause by agents who did not identify themselves.
On Thursday, Oregon’s Congressional delegation said the Justice Department and Homeland Security offices of Inspector General were opening investigations into the “violent actions of recently deployed federal forces” there.
Officials have said agents in Kansas City will be clearly identifiable and will not bear any resemblance to the Portland operation. Still, the ACLU of Missouri said it was staying vigilant in monitoring agents deployed under Operation Legend.
“The people of Kansas City and Missouri should not be subjected to unlawful arrest or harassment by federal agents or used as pawns in Trump’s reelection bid,” said its executive director, Luz María Henríquez. “In America, protesters have the rights to gather together at public places and bind together to demand redress without being terrorized by the government.”
In Columbia on Thursday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson was greeted by several dozen peaceful protesters before he met with local officials. Parson did not address the federal government’s intervention in Kansas City or the growing backlash to the effort.
Parson expressed support for the initiative a day earlier, saying he was glad the federal government was sending support. In discussing why he called a special session focused on crime, he pointed Thursday to shootings in Kansas City that, within the last month, killed LeGend, a pregnant woman pushing a baby in a stroller and other victims.
“People are scared more than they ever have in their lives in some of these areas with violent criminals out there,” he said.
Asked later in the day if he would support federal action like what has been seen in Portland, Parson said he did not know the entire situation but that if people were committing crimes, they would need to be stopped.
“Whatever the resources is, we have to make sure that stops,” he said. “You can’t continue to have violence out there day in and day out.”
McClatchy reporter Michael Wilner and The Star’s Katie Moore, Anna Spoerre, and Jason Hancock contributed to this report.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 5:14 PM.
