One of the suspects in a series of bike shop burglaries and auto thefts in several Front Range communities including Longmont was sentenced to 16 years in state prison.
Austin Butler on Thursday pleaded guilty to one count of violation of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, one count of second-degree burglary and one count of aggravated motor vehicle. All the counts were felonies.
Boulder County District Judge Norma A. Sierra sentenced Butler. Four co-defendants in this case are scheduled for arraignment in September, according to a news release from the Boulder District Attorney’s Office.
Cenna Custom Cycles in Longmont was targeted in November 2019 by the crew of bike thieves linked to Butler. They used landscaping rocks to break the front window of the business, entered quickly and made off with six expensive mountain bikes in less than a minute.
“You could tell they were a very organized group,” owner Cenna Vaelli told the Longmont Leader last year. “They were very brazen. It wasn’t just petty theft they were after, they were after bikes so valuable the market would pay well for these bikes.”
“They had been breaking in a lot even before they broke in here,” Vaelli said. “I guess it was just my turn.”
The suspects made off with $38,000 worth of merchandise and caused about $4,000 in damage to the shop's building, Vaeilli said. The bikes were never recovered and the thefts left Vaelli shaken.
“Now, whenever the phone rings, I jump a little bit,” he said. “I guess I have a little bit of PTSD.”
Attorney General Phil Weiser said in the news release Thursday that a partnership with area law enforcement was key to bringing Butler before a judge. Other suspects in the case will soon follow, he said..
“I am proud of our prosecutor’s tireless work and collaboration with local law enforcement to hold the defendant accountable for the significant harm he caused to several individuals, businesses and non-profit agencies from this vehicle and bike theft criminal enterprise,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said. “We are committed to ensuring others charged in this criminal enterprise will be held fully responsible for their actions, and to sending the message that property theft will not be tolerated.”
The statewide grand jury indicted Butler and seven other individuals in November 2021 on 227 counts in the vehicle theft and bike shop burglary crime spree that occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and stretched from mountain communities to the Boulder and Denver metro areas. The value of the stolen vehicles, stolen property, and property damage carried out from December 2019 until June 2020 is approximately $1.5 million, according to the news release.
District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in the news release that… “This defendant’s actions hurt the victims and communities all throughout the metro region. Since public safety is our top priority, I appreciate the teamwork that went into the investigation and prosecution of these multi-jurisdictional crimes,” Dougherty said.
“ This lengthy prison sentence is, also, the result of great detective work by the Boulder Police Department. Finally, I want to recognize the outstanding efforts of our Deputy District Attorneys on this case; they will continue to work alongside our partners to ensure justice is done,” Dougherty said.
