Aurora police along with federal, state and local partners arrested 116 suspects on outstanding warrants for crimes involving violence, sex and drugs. The collaborative effort, which took place over two weeks, was called “Operation Restore.”
Two suspects arrested were wanted on murder warrants, five suspects on attempted murder warrants and 11 suspects were arrested in relation to sex crimes, including nine cases involving children, said Aurora Division Chief Terry Brown at an afternoon news conference.
The arrests were made from July 26 through Aug. 6 across the country with the help of U.S. marshals, police said. Nine firearms were seized, and three stolen vehicles were recovered.
Donald Ray Wells, 36, was arrested in Aurora on an outstanding murder warrant from Harris County, Texas, according to authorities. Manuel Mendoza-Perales, 34, was arrested in Brighton on an outstanding murder warrant.
During the two-week period, when 130 individuals were targeted for outstanding warrants, about 70 Aurora police officers were working around the clock on the effort along with 40 U.S. marshals, Brown said.
“These cases are alarming,” said David Weaver, who oversees marshals’ operations in Colorado.
David Olesky, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Wednesday that 24% of the arrests made were drug-related and more than 50% of the suspects have criminal drug histories.
Many of the drug arrests involve people suspected of being in violent gangs and cartels, Olesky said.
The operation included the arrest of an “international drug trafficker,” who was distributing dangerous counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl, an illegal narcotic that drives overdose deaths. Olesky described the arrests as “priorities” and said officers put themselves “in harms way to take violent offenders off the streets … and make our communities safer.”
