According to federal agencies and local law enforcement authorities in Aurora, Denver and Thornton, two different investigations led to the arrest last week of 23 individuals on charges ranging from aggravated robbery to kidnapping. One of the cases, dubbed Operation Say Less, resulted in the arrests of fourteen people, while an unrelated grand jury indictment charged nine others with similar crimes.
In both cases, however, suspects used Facebook Messenger to coordinate operations and sell stolen items, while some of the arrested individuals posted messages regarding large amounts of cash and guns shortly after robberies took place.
Documents from the Denver District Attorney's Office outline a series of sprees that snowball from one crime into another. Stolen vehicles were driven to pawn shops and dispensaries, which were then broken into and burglarized. Stolen products such as retail marijuana and firearms were then sold or used to further more criminal action.
Gabriel Frias, Aaron Charron, Nathan Perez, Christopher Nevarez, Micah Garduno, Jacob Gregory, Nash Mitchell, Javier Jurado and Charees Loftin, ages eighteen to 27, were indicted by a grand jury in connection with their alleged involvement in one crime ring. Another fourteen individuals — Genero Zuniga, Hunter Walthall, Josiah Hicks, Markis Cordova, Khalil Orr, Korey Anderson, Ladell Scarbourough, K'Mauri Humphrey, Jonathan Valencia and Neshaun Ealy, who were all eighteen, as well as two juveniles — were charged in Operation Say Less for participating in a similar but unconnected crime spree.
The investigations were led by tasks forces comprising the Denver District Attorney’s Office, the Denver Police Department, the Aurora Police Department, the FBI and the ATF, as well as the Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement Network and the Violent Criminal Enterprise Task Force, two federally led groups that collaborate with local and state law enforcement agencies to pursue and prosecute gang activity and violent offenders.
An estimated $780,000 in cash and property was stolen by the two groups between September 2022 and this past November, according to the Denver DA. In Facebook messages and social media posts obtained by investigators, suspects attempted to sell the stolen marijuana and firearms, and mentioned using the stolen firearms to commit further crimes, according to arrest warrant and affidavit documents. One of the firearms is connected to an open murder investigation, the Denver DA's Office notes.
"Whenever we do these big, complex investigations, it just takes time, because the officers have to use different investigative techniques. Sometimes they have to get court approval for warrants, and you want to take enough time to make sure it's done right," says Denver DA Beth McCann. Citing open investigations, she declines to elaborate on specific details of the cases.
For over a year, from 2022 into late 2023, dispensaries in the Denver and Boulder area dealt with approximately forty reported burglaries. According to case documents, the suspects stole marijuana and related merchandise from metro dispensaries such as Seed and Smith, Elevated Dispensary, the Peaceful Choice (now Snaxland Boulder), Herbs 4 You, the Joint, Best Colorado Cannabis, Social Cannabis, Spark Dispensary, Trenchtown Dispensary, Pig ’N' Whistle and stores owned by the Ascend, Dab, Igadi and Native Roots dispensary chains, among others.
In at least three cases related to the grand jury indictment, burglars even took the ATM machine from the dispensary. They also took an entire store product display, advertisements included, from a Euflora dispensary location (now home to a Jars Cannabis dispensary).
Pawn shops and vape stores were targets as well, according to redacted grand jury documents, which claim that nine individuals were part of a street gang that "used Facebook to market stolen drugs, firearms, and other merchandise to various groups of scores of users."
"Enterprise members sold, traded, or otherwise disposed of other stolen items that included marijuana and marijuana products, firearms, jewelry, and vaping products. Other items, such as ATMs, were discarded after the U.S. currency was extracted from them," the grand jury indictment reads.
Around half a dozen Kia vehicles — a common target of thefts in Colorado — were stolen during the crime spree; many of them were subsequently connected to burglary attempts at dispensaries, according to case documents.
The incidents that led to the arrest of the fourteen other individuals were even more dramatic. In at least four incidents, vehicles were stolen in the middle of the street, with the carjackers allegedly cutting off victims with a white sedan, then jumping out and forcing drivers out of their vehicles at gunpoint. The accused then drove the stolen vehicles to dispensaries in Aurora, Denver, Thornton and Wheat Ridge, where they broke in and stole cash and product.
One of the stolen cars, an Acura MDX, was reported found at the scene of a June burglary at Best Colorado Cannabis in Wheat Ridge. During that crime, a reported $50,000 in cash was taken from a safe and marijuana products worth over $40,000 stolen.
Days after the Wheat Ridge heist, Korey Anderson and Genero Zuniga, the same individuals accused of stealing the Acura, allegedly stole a Ford F-150 at gunpoint in Denver on Sixth Avenue near the I-25 entrance ramp on the early morning of June 21. They and a handful of others then used the vehicle to burglarize dispensaries in Denver and Lakewood before the Ford truck was spotted by Thornton police on the night of June 23.
After officers followed the stolen truck and marked police cars joined the pursuit, they activated their lights and sirens. This led to a high-speed chase through a construction zone and into oncoming traffic, forcing Adams County deputies to join. After eventually trapping the truck, officers arrested Zuniga, K'Mauri Humphrey and Jonathan Valencia. Multiple firearms and retail marijuana with packaging numbers traced back to one of the burglarized dispensaries was found in the vehicle.
Zuniga was eventually released but got right back to work, according to his arrest warrant. On July 21, he, Anderson and an unnamed suspect reportedly stole a Honda CR-V at gunpoint in Aurora. Apple AirTags that were placed on the vehicle by its owner helped police trace the stolen CR-V to the Native Roots dispensary on South Santa Fe Drive in Denver, where an attempted break-in had just been reported.
Investigators used cell-phone data to place the suspects at the locations and times of the crimes. Making their jobs easier, some suspects posted themselves holding guns and large amounts of cash on Facebook shortly after the burglaries were reported.
Investigators believe that Genero Zuniga (left) posted photos of himself with stolen money on social media.
Denver District Attorney
Because of marijuana's federal prohibition, pot-related businesses are technically banned from using bank credit-card processing and other financial services; those institutions worry about the possibility of federal drug charges. Although some smaller banks and credit unions will take on that risk for high fees, the majority of dispensary transactions are still done in cash. And that makes them targets.
"Most stores don't have their own ATMs because they can use credit cards and banks, so I think it does make dispensaries more likely targets for these kinds of burglaries. In some cases, they just take the whole ATM," McCann says. "I think we were a little surprised by the number of burglaries of dispensaries, because we haven't seen a huge amount of crime around marijuana dispensaries. But as this indictment and filed case demonstrate, there were more going than we were necessarily aware of."
According to McCann, firearms and federally prohibited substances like marijuana have strong resale value on the black market, so she can see why they're attractive to criminals.
"Obviously, it has become a lucrative endeavor, so this is really good news that we're able to break it up," she adds. "Given what we've found through this investigation, there should be some emphasis on solving these kinds of crimes when you've got organized groups like this."
The DA's office recently put an emphasis on tackling drug and gun distribution, according to McCann. She's hired two prosecutors and two criminal investigators since 2022, all of whom are targeting illegal drug and gun rings.
