US Marshals Fall Several Feet When Deck Collapses at Missouri Sex Offender’s Home

Body-camera video released shows a federal task force of four deputy US Marshals and five Randolph County sheriff’s deputies stepping onto a second-floor wooden deck at the home of Jacob Alexander Munoz, a 26-year-old convicted of child-pornography possession, when the structure abruptly detached and fell on July 21. The collapse sent the nine officers plunging several feet, trapping them under beams; five required hospital treatment for broken bones, torn muscles and concussions, while the remaining four escaped more serious injury.

The team was conducting Operation Adam’s Watch, a multi-week enforcement sweep aimed at sex offenders who had not updated their address registrations, and had 30 warrants that morning. Munoz was not inside the house at the time but later turned himself in. US Marshal Steven Lewis called the incident a miracle given the extent of the decking, and Assistant Chief James Tapp highlighted that no firearms discharged, crediting the officers’ training and discipline.