A federal grand jury is accusing three metro area men, one of them wearing a Denver police uniform, of abducting an alleged cocaine dealer and his family in 2009 and terrorizing them at gunpoint.
They stole $30,000 in cash and other items from the family’s Thornton home, locating the box of money after threatening to hurt the couple’s two young daughters, federal prosecutors said.
The men are said to be gang members: Tracy Morgan, 40, of Denver, who uses the street name Tre Dog; Killiu Ford, 37, of Aurora, also known as Caveman; and Augustus Sanford, 34, of Denver, who goes by Turk, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.
Sanford was already in custody on unrelated robbery charges. Ford was arrested at his Aurora home, and Morgan was still at-large today, following Tuesday’s indictment.
“These indictments represent the types of violent crime associated with the complex gang investigations,” James Yacone, the special agent in charge of the Denver FBI office, said in a statement.
The indictments came after a multi-state drug trafficking investigation, he said.
Prosecutors said Morgan solicited the father of the family, Mario Armendariz, to deliver an undisclosed quantity of cocaine, then attached a tracking device to his car to determine where he lived and his movements around town for weeks.
On Sept. 22, 2009, Sanford wore a police uniform stolen by the son of a Denver officer, who exchanged it for drugs, the indictment alleges.
Sanford and his accomplices allegedly caught up to the Armendariz and his wife in Edgewater, as they were putting their daughters into car seats.
“The defendants jumped out of their various vehicles, with their guns drawn, and announced they were the police,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
They abducted Armendariz, and one of the gunmen forced his wife to drive him to the family’s home. Up to five men ransacked the home, as the wife insisted she knew nothing about drugs or money.
Morgan allegedly told one of the men to take one of the children upstairs, as he pointed the gun at the other girl’s head.
“At that point the adult female victim pointed out where money was hidden, and the men grabbed a box containing approximately $30,000 in cash,” according to prosecutors’ account of the crime.
Armendariz was left along 104th Avenue in Thornton.
Morgan, Ford and Sanford face kidnapping, conspiracy and gun charges. If convicted on any of the charges, each could face life in prison, prosecutors said.
“Because of the violent nature of this crime and the means by which it was accomplished, the full force of our law enforcement resources are focused on this case,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh said in a statement.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
