Eight people were indicted by a grand jury in association with a car theft ring that resulted in 45 car thefts along the Front Range including Longmont and Broomfield.
Members of a group known as the Genesceo Enterprise would scout areas until they found potential cars to steal or steal from, a news release from the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office stated. One member would leave a transport vehicle and commit the crime. After the crime was complete, the transport vehicle and the target vehicle would leave the scene, according to the release.
The stolen vehicles would be taken to a “chop shop” in Lafayette where components of the vehicles would be removed. Often the stolen vehicles would be used in other crimes including additional car thefts, thefts, trespasses and burglaries, the news release states.
Goods stolen, especially tools and firearms, would be traded for other goods including drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, the DA’s Office stated in the news release.
Cristhian Baeza-Delgado (88 counts), Esthefany Carolina Aguilar-Cardoza (70 counts), Alejandro Moreno-Castro (22 counts) and Ricardo Castro-Vasquez (20 counts) were arrested on Tuesday. All defendants face a possible sentence of 24 years in prison for the charges violated under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act. They also face an additional year to 12 years for other felony charges. The cases will be prosecuted in Boulder County.
“The Geneseo Enterprise over the course of the last 11 months is responsible for over 45 motor vehicle thefts with a total value approaching $1 million, dozens of documented acts of chop shop activity related to those vehicles, and over $96,000 in other stolen property,” the news release states.
“As reflected by the indictment, this auto theft ring faces serious consequences for stealing so many cars and causing harm to many people. To effectively combat auto theft often requires long-term investigations across different jurisdictions,” said District Attorney Michael Dougherty.
