600 pounds of marijuana stolen from Colorado State Patrol evidence storage lot
Thieves made off with roughly 600 pounds of marijuana from a Colorado State Patrol evidence storage lot in Arapahoe County.
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Thieves made off with roughly 600 pounds of marijuana in a brazen burglary at a Colorado State Patrol evidence storage lot in Arapahoe County, prompting the agency to bolster security at the facility as it works to probe the breach, the state patrol announced Wednesday.
The break-in was discovered Friday, after a Colorado State Patrol evidence technician found damage to a locked gate at a secure parking lot used for evidence storage in Arapahoe County.
A trailer on the grounds had also been broken into, and a large cache of marijuana stolen.
“It has been determined that the suspects first came to the site after dark on the evening of April 1 and used a power tool to remove a lock on the gate and a lock on the secured trailer,” the state patrol said in a news release.
The pot had been seized as part of a “highway drug interdiction investigation” and was scheduled to be destroyed, the state patrol said. There was no active court case involving the stolen marijuana, and no other criminal investigations were affected. No other details about the drug seizure were released.
The agency reported the burglary to Englewood police, and is also conducting its own investigation.
A preliminary review identified security gaps at the facility, prompting the agency to step up the frequency of security camera checks and property walkthroughs to identify problems more quickly and ensure the integrity of evidence, the agency said.
The state patrol is conducting what it calls a comprehensive internal investigation to determine if any policies or protocols were violated.
The agency declined to disclose the address of the storage lot, saying that information could affect the investigation and further expose the agency’s evidence and personnel.
