Police Bust Crime Ring

A multi-jurisdictional investigation busts a crime ring that spanned from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs.

Aurora police say the suspects lurked in areas like fitness centers, soccer fields, or recreation areas such as dog parks. Detective Mike Ciavatta of the Aurora Police Department was one of the main investigators on the case.

"The main thing the people were doing was taking advantage of opportunities," said Ciavatta.

Suspects stole stole wallets and purses and used them to buy other big ticket items.

An investigation started in 2006 when detectives became suspicious over some crime patterns covering twenty jurisdictions from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs.

Police say there as many as 472 victims.

The crimes mostly occurred in the southeastern part of the metro area.

"These organizations cross over our boundaries of our cities of our counties some are even out of state," said Denver District Attorney, Mitch Morrissey. "This is the way we have to attack these criminal organizations."

The investigation led to the completion of a Denver grand jury investigation this year.

"Identity theft is a national problem," said Dan Oates. "It's a growing problem and a problem in the metro region."

The grand jury handed up twenty indictments.

Eight of the suspects are believed to be involved in organized crime.

The remaining twelve have been charged with crimes varying from theft, forgery, and drug possession.

13 of the suspects are behind bars.

"So we're basically down to looking for three more individuals," said Ciavatta.

Detectives believe victims lost an estimated four hundred thousand dollars to support the suspects' drug addictions, which included methamphetamines.

"They slipped into meth and from what some have told me it's the worst addiction they've ever seen," said Det. Mike Ciavatta of Aurora Police. "It changes people to where they have to do this to feed that addiction."