Facebook messages and braggadocio social media posts helped take down two separate crime rings accused of using stolen vehicles and weapons to burglarize dozens of businesses, including firearms dealers and over forty marijuana dispensaries.
According to federal agencies and local law enforcement authorities in Aurora, Denver and Thornton, two different investigations led to the arrest last week of 23 individuals on charges ranging from aggravated robbery to kidnapping. One of the cases, dubbed Operation Say Less, resulted in the arrests of fourteen people, while an unrelated grand jury indictment charged nine others with similar crimes.
In both cases, however, suspects used Facebook Messenger to coordinate operations and sell stolen items, while some of the arrested individuals posted messages regarding large amounts of cash and guns shortly after robberies took place.
Documents from the Denver District Attorney outline a series of sprees that snowball from one crime into another. Stolen vehicles were driven to pawn shops and dispensaries, which were then broken into and burglarized. Stolen products such as retail marijuana and firearms were then sold or used to further more criminal action.
Gabriel Frias, Aaron Charron, Nathan Perez, Christopher Nevarez, Micah Garduno, Jacob Gregory, Nash Mitchell, Javier Jurado and Charees Loftin, ages eighteen