Seventeen alleged members of a car-theft ring accused of entering contracts to purchase expensive cars with fraudulent information have been indicted on 163 felony counts.
The suspects have been charged with aggravated car theft, forgery, computer crime exceeding $15,000 and violating Colorado’s organized-crime law.
The probe began after Erica Johnson bought a 2001 Mercedes E320 sedan for more than $25,000 at Millennium Auto sport in Englewood using allegedly fraudulent identification, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.
The suspects used fraudulent credit reports that showed they qualified for expensive cars, Robinson said. They would get cars, at a total value of $700,000, from dealerships across the metro area and sell them, he said.
The suspects were indicted May 19, following an Arapahoe County grand- jury investigation.
During the probe, deputies learned that some ring members were funneling drugs to inmates at the Crowley County Correctional Facility in southeastern Colorado, Robinson said.
Those charged include Crowley kitchen staff members and convict Paul Pollard.
Authorities arrested Allen Ray McFarland, Nakia Bayonne Sanders, Sallena Grace Nichols, Jonathan Andrew Hartwig, Rudolph Williams Jr., Tracey Dionne Richardson, Malando Eugene Sanders, William Romero Wilson and Christel Leigh McNeil.
Warrants have been issued for Ru dolph Williams Sr., Abdul Elijah Raheem X, Kacy Milberger, Everett Chester and Bayonne Anderson.
Cindy Lou Hammack and Brandi Lynn Cunningham were released on bond.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.