Denver officials uncover major vehicle theft and drug trafficking scheme nearly $10M in stolen cars
If you’re a car enthusiast, you’ve likely seen the 2000 remake of “Gone in 60 Seconds.” The premise of the crime was simple: steal 50 sought-after cars in 72 hours to save the day. While not that dramatic, officials in Denver are charging an entire criminal operation for nearly 200 stolen cars and extensive drug trafficking activity.
A Denver grand jury indicted a huge criminal operation for over 190 stolen cars over a year and a half
It’s like something from a dramatic television show featuring gritty, no-nonsense cops and fiercely focused lawyers. The Denver District Attorney (DA) announced that a grand jury indictment named 17 criminals for their involvement in a large car theft and drug-smuggling operation.
If the 17 defendants weren’t enough, the grand jury’s indictment includes hundreds of charges. According to 9 News Denver, the defendants are looking at 222 charges. Most notably, the DA’s officer claims that the defendants were responsible for over 190 stolen cars between September 2022 and February 2024. That’s an average of around 11 vehicles per month. Worse yet, the estimates put the value of the vehicles at around $9.5 million.
Most of the target vehicles were high-end pickup trucks like the GMC Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate and Ford F-150 Platinum. The operation would then drive or transport the trucks to Mexico and trade the stolen cars and trucks for illegal drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine. The drugs would then hit the streets in Denver, and the cycle would continue.
Troublingly, authorities confirmed that some of the vehicles car thieves were targeting were at Denver International Airport (DEN). Unfortunately, the auto theft ring is far from the only instance of vehicle theft crimes at the airport. Passengers and authorities at DEN have contended with at least 1,325 car thefts since the pandemic. More alarmingly, thefts at DEN jumped over three times from 2021 to 2022, per Atlanta News First. Last year, the figure doubled again with thieves stealing over 600 cars at the busy airport.
