BRIGHTON | Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason on Monday announced the takedown of a cocaine trafficking ring that prosecutors say smuggled large amounts of the drug from Juarez, Mexico into Adams County over a period of 15 years.
Operation Full Circle netted about 32 pounds of cocaine, 15 vehicles, five properties, four firearms and more than $283,000 in cash as well as 31 indictments that have so far resulted in 18 arrests, according to a news release.
Charges against the defendants, some of whom may be located in Mexico, include drug dealing, money laundering and violations of Colorado’s Organized Crime Control Act.
The joint law enforcement operation spanned 18 months and involved personnel from the Adams County District Attorney’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration and North Metro Task Force.
“By working in collaboration with one another, we are disrupting drug operators who are dealing significant quantities of illegal narcotics into our community,” Mason said in a statement. “This partnership and the indictment should send one important signal to all who are dealing this poison in our community: we’re going to take you down.”
Law enforcement first began looking into cocaine trafficking between Mexico and Adams County via Martin Mena-Flores; his brother, Gustavo Mena-Flores; and their associates in May 2021, the news release said.
Indictments shared by the district attorney’s office describe numerous drug deals coordinated via telephone involving stash houses and meeting spots around the Denver metro area, including multiple locations in Brighton.
One of the defendants, Urbano Marquez, had an Aurora address in the 1000 block of Dearborn Street where multiple kilograms of cocaine were allegedly delivered. Marquez was said to have brought a kilo of cocaine to another defendant, Efrain Garcia-Loza, in the parking lot of the Florida Station apartments in Aurora.
Other named defendants include:
- Julio Alba-Guzman.
- Edgar Gutierrez Alvarez.
- Anthony Ray Arroyos.
- Cesar Barrios-Villegas.
- Jorge Vazquez Cervantes.
- Nestor Garcia Chavez.
- Jose Luis Chavez.
- Sergio Chavez-Franco.
- Juan Gallegos.
- Ronnie Garcia.
- Guillermo Zavala Jimenez.
- Andres Llanas.
- Manuel Marquez.
- Michelle Sandoval Marquez.
- Martin Mena-Flores.
- Gustavo Mena-Flores.
- Vivian Renteria Montes.
- Martin Quezada Moreno.
- Eloy Moreno-Payan.
- Luciano Ramirez-Garcia.
- Ricardo Alvarado Robledo.
- Francisco Sanchez.
- Isidro Vargas.
- Javier Vasquez.
- Ismael Villegas-Espinoza.
“It’s important for the community to know that work like this is constantly underway,” said Chad Wooten, commander of investigations for the Brighton Police Department, in a statement.
“Even when we can’t share much information with the public, because we need to preserve the integrity of the investigation and prioritize the safety of the undercover detectives, we are working hard behind the scenes to get dangerous drugs out of our community.”
32 pounds? I don’t think so. More likely 15 kilograms. México is a metric country.