Arrests made throughout the metro Denver area on Wednesday resolved 190 open cases and brought to a halt what Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty called “a massive crime ring.”
At an afternoon news conference outside the Boulder County Justice Center, Dougherty said six people have been charged in connection with a crime ring that broke into cars, then used those stolen cars to commit other crimes. Among those crimes, according to Dougherty, were using garage-door openers to enter garages and steal high-end bicycles, which were then broken down and sent to Mexico. Dougherty said the group also stole credit cards, which were used to acquire gift cards. The group has also been charged with the distribution of methamphetamines.
Adrian Martinez, Chloe Martinez, Kimberly Salas, Carlos Daniel Marquez, Lorena Marquez-Perez and Ryan See are named as co-defendants in the indictment. Four were charged with violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, a state law that prohibits racketeering, and two were charged in connection with individual thefts, Dougherty said. A violation of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act is a class two felony and can carry a sentence of up to 24 years. It was not immediately clear who had been charged with violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act.
Five of the individuals were arrested and are in custody, according to Boulder County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Vinnie Montez. Salas was not in custody as of Wednesday afternoon, Montez said.
Dougherty said there are at least 55 crime victims.
Dougherty said investigators “kept pulling on the string of each one of these different thefts, break-ins” until they realized the connections among the 190 cases.
Investigators used cellphone data and surveillance footage to identify the individuals through the vehicles they drove and the clothing they wore, the indictment said.
In March, Longmont officers conducting a traffic stop discovered Marquez and Marquez-Perez were in a car that had been reported stolen in August 2024 out of Frederick, according to the indictment. The car had been spray-painted, and the vehicle identification number had been covered. While officers were investigating the VIN, they received a single call reporting an active menacing with a firearm across town, the indictment said. Investigators later determined the call had come from Martinez’s phone number. Martinez and Marquez had also been communicating via call and text around the time of the traffic stop, the indictment said.
In all, the crime ring is suspected of stealing about $828,000 in property and damaging $39,880 worth of property from January 2024 through September 2025. The crimes were committed across the metro Denver area, including multiple crimes in Boulder County.
Officers uncovered stolen property and new evidence in the nine search warrants executed Wednesday, according to Montez. He said it is “more than likely” that others were involved in the crimes.
Boulder County sheriff’s investigators, aided by multiple law enforcement agencies, executed search the warrants across metro Denver on Wednesday morning as part of the grand jury investigation, officials said.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office emphasized in a news release that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not involved.
The sheriff’s office, alongside 24 other enforcement agencies including the FBI, the Boulder County and West Metro drug task forces, and the Colorado State Patrol, executed the warrants.
Law enforcement agencies finished SWAT operations at about 8:45 a.m., according to a BCSO news update earlier in the day. All operations were conducted safely, the update stated. No injuries were reported, and some traffic flows were affected.
At 3500 W. 64th Avenue in unincorporated Adams County, officers encountered an improvised explosive device, and the Adams County Bomb Squad was called in, Montez said.
The searches were carried out in unincorporated Boulder and Adams counties, as well as in the cities of Denver, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Federal Heights and Johnstown, the sheriff’s office said. Law enforcement also executed warrants at the following locations, according to BCSO:
• 14000 block of North Pecos Street in unincorporated Adams County
• 16000 block of 104th Avenue in unincorporated Adams County
• 15000 block of Huron Street in unincorporated Adams County
• 3500 block of East 160th Avenue, in unincorporated Adams County
• 3700 block of Owens Street in Wheat Ridge
• 8900 block of Federal Boulevard in Federal Heights
• 400 block of Gateway Drive in Johnstown
• 2100 block of 21st Street, in an unincorporated Boulder County enclave within Longmont.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office led the operation and is leading the investigation, the news release said.
