17 people indicted in Denver car theft ring linked to Sinaloa Cartel, police say

Seventeen people indicted in an alleged car theft ring connected to the Sinaloa Cartel are accused of stealing at least 190 vehicles at or near Denver International Airport and taking them to Mexico to exchange for drugs to distribute in the metro, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

The thefts – usually high-end pickup trucks – occurred between September 2022 and February and cost victims $9.5 million, the DA’s office announced Monday.

A grand injury indicted the suspects on 222 charges related to organized crime, auto theft, drug possession and distribution and identity theft after a yearslong investigation by local, state and federal law enforcement, Denver DA Beth McCann said.

“These indictments should send a message that people who steal cars in Denver will be caught and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” McCann said at a news conference Monday.

Eleven of the 17 suspects are in police custody, and the remaining six are believed to be in Colorado, Texas and Mexico.

The sophistication and coordination of the scheme is “something akin to what we might see in a Hollywood movie,” said David Olesky, assistant special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain division.

“These weren’t simply individuals looking to steal a car for a joyride. This was a multimillion-dollar international enterprise which robbed far too many here in the state of Colorado,” he said.

An overwhelming number of the stolen vehicles were taken from DIA or surrounding areas, including hotels that provide free parking to guests who stay one night before leaving on a trip, said Denver prosecutor Alison Foley.

The 17 suspects range from people alleged to have direct ties to the cartel to people police say orchestrated the exchanges and distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine in Denver, Foley said.

Rising auto theft rates also had a broader impacts by raising insurance rates when Colorado became the No. 1 state for per capita auto thefts after the pandemic, said Kent Prose, supervisory special agent of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The state has since dropped to No. 2 per capita.

“The cost to every single insured person in Colorado is significant,” he said.

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