Several Colorado cities involved in Boulder County Sheriff's Office crime ring bust, five arrested

The Boulder County Sheriff's Office executed several search warrants on Wednesday morning that are part of a grand jury investigation into an organized crime ring targeting the Front Range. Five arrests have been made, and one suspect remains at large.

According to the 20th Judicial District Attorney's Office, they executed the search warrants as part of a criminal case. Boulder officials said a crime ring is responsible for 26 burglaries and 15 motor vehicle thefts, and many other offenses across the state over the last 18 months.

"This crime ring conspired to steal motor vehicles along the Front Range and take them to a chop shop. The stolen cars were then re-titled using fraudulent documents and registered to a business run by members of the criminal enterprise, MMZ International LLC. The stolen cars were then used to commit garage burglaries and vehicle trespasses throughout the Front Range," county officials said.

According to authorities, members of the crime ring armed with bear mace would take wallets, purses, backpacks and garage door openers from vehicles early in the morning. They said the thieves would use the garage door openers to gain access to the garage, searching for high-end bicycles. They would allegedly take the stolen bikes to another location, load them on a van, and ship them to Mexico to be resold. Additionally, authorities said the suspects would take any credit and debit cards they stole to large retail stores and purchase gift cards with them.

A victim of these thefts told CBS Colorado that the suspects didn't just take all of the money in his safe; they took the last memories of his late father and everything else that was in his truck.

They said the suspects also possessed large amounts of methamphetamine and that previous efforts to catch them had resulted in high-speed chases.

At 7 a.m. Wednesday, nine search warrants were executed across several cities in the Denver metro area in connection with the case. The warrants were spread across multiple locations, including unincorporated Boulder and Adams counties, and the cities of Denver, Wheat Ridge, Federal Heights, and Johnstown. The search warrants included seven residences and two storage units. 

Several law enforcement agencies were involved in the execution, including tactical, investigators and support personnel from the Adams County Sheriff's Office, Ault Police Department, Boulder County Sheriff's Office, Boulder County Drug Task Force, Boulder Police Department, Broomfield Police Department, Colorado State Patrol, Commerce City Police Department, Erie Police Department, FBI-Denver, Federal Heights Police Department, Fort Collins Police Department, Golden Police Department, Hudson Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Johnstown Police Department, Lafayette Police Department, Lakewood Police Department, Longmont Public Safety, Louisville Police Department, Loveland Police Department, Thornton Police Department, West Metro Drug Task Force, and Wheat Ridge Police Department. 

During the search warrant executions, several neighborhoods were put on a shelter-in-place, and that was lifted once that part of the investigation ended. According to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, an improvised explosive device was located in a raid in Adams County, but was rendered safe, and there were no other threats to the public at any location. SWAT teams were standing by at some locations during the warrant execution.

Boulder officials said the warrants resulted in the arrests of Adrian Martinez, Chloe Martinez, Ryan See, Carlos Marquez and Lorena Marquez-Perez. Authorities are still searching for a sixth suspect, 30-year-old Kimberly Salas.

Adrian Martinez, Kimberly Salas, Chloe Martinez, and Ryan See have been indicted on class two felony charges under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act (COCCA), which carries a sentence of up to 24 years in prison if convicted. They are also facing felony theft charges. Carlos Marquez was indicted on a charge of motor vehicle theft and faces a sentence of up to six years in prison. Lorena Marquez-Perez faces a sentence of up to three years on the chop shop activity charge.

In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, 20th Judicial District Attorney Michael Dougherty praised the BCSO's efforts to investigate the cases and the collaboration of law enforcement organizations to bring the suspects into custody.

"Today, a massive crime ring has been brought to a screeching halt. They were responsible for 190 open cases. Twenty-five different jurisdictions were victimized by their actions; nearly $1 million in loss and damage," said Dougherty. "This indictment of six individuals, to say this is a culmination of a tremendous amount of work by law enforcement, would be accurate."

Authorities said new evidence uncovered during the search warrant executions will help with new leads in the investigation.  

The BCSO said several other collateral arrests were made during the raids for offenses including illegal weapons, outstanding felony warrants, felons in possession of weapons and drug violations.

They said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not involved in today's events and that no injuries were reported at any of the locations searched.