Three years into Operation Lone Star, Texas sheriff highlights successes

[Geee]

The Center Square

Three years into Texas’ border security mission, Operation Lone Star, a Texas sheriff is highlighting the successful efforts of his deputies, who have been involved in a multi-county operation committed to combating cartel-related crime.

Retiring Jackson County Sheriff Kelly R. Janica was a founding member of an Operation Lone Star Task Force headed up by Goliad Sheriff Roy Boyd. Janica, who came out of semi-retirement to fill an open sheriff’s seat in December 2021, soon joined Boyd’s OLS task force. The group includes law enforcement officers from roughly 30 agencies in nearly 20 counties dedicated to stopping cartel-related trafficking and smuggling operations.

 

“We send these men and women into harm's way every day,” Janica said in a video his office put together to educate county residents, and Texans, about the successes and dangerous work of the task force. The video depicts deputies involved in thwarting cartel-related criminal activity, and engaged in high-speed car chases and bailouts. Accompanying it is audio from part of a 2017 Liberty University commencement speech given by former President Donald Trump. In it, he encourages graduates, and Americans, to “never, ever give up.”

 

“Wharton County Sheriff Shannon Srubar and I are the last two links in the enforcement chain on US 59,” Janica said. “We're committed to criminal law enforcement in our counties. We will not give the cartels a foothold. We will not allow them to use our county for stash houses and staging areas. We will not allow them free passage through our counties so they can prey upon other Texans.”

[Geee]

OLS task force takes down human smuggling operation

After a year-long investigation into a smuggling operation at the border, an Operation Lone Star Task Force led by Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd took down several operatives allegedly involved in human smuggling.

The Center Square on Friday accompanied Boyd on an undercover operation in the border town of Roma in Starr County that led to the arrest of two women after one was arrested on Thursday. Two others remain at large with warrants out for their arrest.

In the early morning hours while it was still pitch black, sheriff’s deputies from Goliad and Jackson counties, Kingsville Police Department narcotics officers, and U.S. Marshalls were involved in arresting members of an alleged human trafficking ring uncovered by Goliad County Sheriff’s Office investigators.