US Marshals director talks violent crime prevention in Raleigh visit

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The head of the United States Marshals Service stopped in Raleigh on Wednesday.

ABC11 was the only TV station in the room to press him about what is being done to fight violent crime in the Capital City and across the country.

"We have men and women out there every day who are taking the risk to put their lives on the line to keep our community safe," said Ronald Davis, who has led the Marshals Service since 2021. "I think support with technology, support with real-time crime centers, support with collaboration and communication continuing with partnerships with our task forces."

Davis did his visit to the Eastern District before going to the Middle District on Thursday.

There he will attend the funeral of slain Greensboro Police Sgt. Dale Nix, who was killed before the new year.

On Wednesday, Davis met with the Raleigh Police Department, the Wake County Sheriff's Office, and the Department of Public Safety.

"As we are putting task forces together, we talked about violent crime, we talked about the unfortunate reality of more of our juveniles being involved in violent crime and the impact that has had on our structures and systems and how to respond," he said.

In 2023, the Marshals Service arrested 73,000 fugitives nationwide. Of those, 5,400 were brought on homicide charges. They also recovered 4,000 firearms.

"That's the kind of necessary (action) to drive crime down when you are focusing on the worst of the worst," he said.

ABC11 also asked Davis about the ongoing case of Alder Marin Sotelo. He's one of the brothers charged in the 2022 murder of Wake County Deputy Ned Byrd.

Sotelo broke out of a federal holding facility in Virginia last year and was caught in Mexico.

He still hasn't been brought back to Wake County to face charges.

"Everybody is working together to the end of being able to do anything we need to do to get him back here in our jurisdiction so he can be held accountable for the crime," said Tony Godwin, chief of field services for the Wake County Sheriff's Office.