Eleven folks stole at the least 130 vehicles from streets and parking heaps throughout metro Denver after which used the bank cards and identification paperwork discovered inside to commit extra crimes, based on a grand jury indictment introduced Thursday.
Their focused areas included a Lowes car parking zone, an RTD car parking zone, resort parking heaps and neighborhood streets. Additionally they broke into dealerships and restore retailers, the place they entered places of work and stole keys to a number of vehicles, in addition to key programmers and the rest of worth.
In the event that they discovered bank cards, checkbooks or identification paperwork, they then tried to make use of these gadgets to make purchases or commit identification fraud, based on the indictment.
Investigators with the Colorado Metropolitan Auto Theft Process Power estimated that the whole worth of the stolen vehicles and property exceeded $3.1 million. The thefts spanned the northern Entrance Vary, from Weld County to Douglas County, from Boulder to Aurora.
The members of the auto-theft ring, who vary in age from 19 to 34, face a mixed 74 counts for the thefts and different related crimes between February 2021 and Could 2022. Past car theft, the counts embody possession of weapons by earlier offenders, cybercrime, identification theft, assault and drug expenses. Investigators allege the members of the conspiracy stole vehicles partially to pay for medicine.
The indictment comes because the Denver space continues to endure a pointy spike in auto thefts. The variety of thefts greater than doubled from slightly below 13,000 in 2019 to greater than 27,000 final yr — or greater than 70 a day.
The members of the alleged auto-theft ring deserted among the vehicles, stored some for their very own use and tried to promote others via Fb. Investigators recovered fingerprints from members of the group on the within of among the stolen automobiles. A number of members of the group had weapons and medicines on them after they had been arrested, the indictment states.
When confronted by regulation enforcement, members of the ring generally sped away recklessly in an try to flee. One member crashed into a house in Northglenn after he fled police.
