DEA arrests 4 in Colorado with suspected ties to Sinaloa Cartel, Tren de Aragua
Three male individuals allegedly involved in the trafficking of fentanyl – who have potential ties to the Sinaloa Cartel – were taken into custody Wednesday at a home across the street from the headquarters of the Lochbuie Police Department in Brighton, the agency told KDVR.
"This investigation has been linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. Over the course of the last – not only few days, but months... what have we been talking about? Fentanyl, fentanyl, fentanyl. And that is going to continue to be our priority at DEA and it's about saving lives," David Olesky, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the DEA's Rocky Mountain Field Division, told reporters at the scene.
"What struck me today about this particular location is that we ended up seizing numerous rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition," he added.
The DEA wrote on X that the location of the arrests was "literally across the street from a police station."
The three men were wanted in connection to a warrant that was issued out of Denver, KDVR reported.
Multiple officers were seen heading in and out of the home during the investigation Wednesday, which closed Weld County Road 37 for several hours, the station added.
Earlier, the DEA's Rocky Mountain Field Division said "A suspected member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) was taken into custody in the Denver area overnight."
Video released by the DEA showed a person in custody being led away from a housing complex.
"DEA/local LEO partners continue hitting streets day/night pursuing drug criminals," it added on X. "Due to the ongoing investigation, more info may be released later today."
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Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
In Washington police takeover, federal agents and National Guard take on new tasks
They typically investigate drug lords, weapons traffickers or cyber criminals. This week, though, federal agents are fanning out across the nation's capital as part of President Donald Trump's efforts to clamp down on crime in the city. The sometimes-masked agents joined members of the National Guard as well as the United States Park Police, whose responsibilities include protecting the country's monuments and managing crowds during demonstrations. Soldiers in fatigues kept watch near Union Station, while officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration patrolled along the National Mall. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives helped question a couple in northwest Washington who were parked illegally and eating McDonald's takeout. Trump said Monday that he's taking over Washington's police department in hopes of reducing crime, even as city officials stressed that crime is already falling. The District of Columbia's status as a congressionally established federal district allows the president to take control, although he's limited to 30 days under statute unless he gets approval from Congress. Amid the takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, or MPD, here's a list of some of the federal agencies involved and what they typically do: The National Guard THIS WEEK: The Pentagon said that 800 Guard members have been activated for missions in Washington that include monument security, community safety patrols and beautification efforts. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the troops won't be armed and declined to give more details on what the safety patrols or beautification efforts would entail. The White House said Thursday that Guard members aren't making arrests but are 'protecting federal assets, providing a safe environment for law enforcement officers to make arrests, and deterring violent crime with a visible law enforcement presence.' THE BACKSTORY: The National Guard serves as the primary combat reserve of the Army and Air Force, according to its website. But it also responds when 'disaster strikes in the homeland' to protect life and property in communities. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) THIS WEEK: DEA agents have also fanned out across Washington, working with police on traffic stops and other enforcement efforts. The agency has touted this week that its agents have helped to recover guns and drugs. THE BACKSTORY: The agency typically enforces the nation's controlled substances laws and regulations, while going after drug cartels, gangs and traffickers in the U.S. and abroad. For example, a DEA-led investigation scored a record seizure of fentanyl in May, 'dismantling one of the largest and most dangerous drug trafficking organizations in U.S. history,' the agency said in a news release. The DEA also operates a little-known research lab in northern Virginia that's working to analyze seized narcotics to find ways to stop the supply. Its chemists identify the ever-evolving tactics employed by cartels to manufacture drugs flowing into the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) THIS WEEK: Agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, could be seen on Wednesday alongside MPD officers as they conducted traffic checks at a checkpoint along 14th Street in northwest Washington. THE BACKSTORY: HSI investigates a wide variety of crimes on a global scale – at home, abroad and online – with hundreds of offices across the country and abroad. Those crimes include 'illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology into, out of and through the United States,' the agency says on its website. In the last few months, as the Trump administration has ramped up its immigration enforcement efforts across the U.S., HSI agents have been out on raids and involved in immigration arrests at courthouses and other sites around the country. HSI agents also investigate a vast array of crime, including cyber and financial crimes and intellectual property offenses. United States Park Police THIS WEEK: United States Park Police have been seen helping with traffic stops this week in the district and are a regular presence in Washington. D.C. The federal agency is actually one of the nation's oldest, being founded in 1791 by George Washington. THE BACKSTORY: The police are part of the National Park Service and has jurisdiction in all federal parks, with offices in Washington, New York and San Francisco, according to the agency's website. Before this week's takeover, it already had the authority to make an arrest in the District of Columbia. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) THIS WEEK: ATF agents have been helping out with traffic stops. THE BACKSTORY: The agency primarily focuses on the illegal use of guns and explosives, bombings and acts of terrorism, and the trafficking of illicit liquor or contraband tobacco.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Think it's hard working for Trump? Try running the DEA and the DC police
WASHINGTON – Working for the famously impatient President Donald Trump in one top job is hard enough. Imagine the uncomfortable position Trump's new interim federal police commissioner finds himself in. As part of his extraordinary Aug. 11 federal takeover of law enforcement in the nation's capital, Trump tapped his newly confirmed Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terrance "Terry" Cole to also head one of the nation's largest and most dysfunctional police departments as part of a broader Justice Department takeover. All eyes will be on Cole as he tries to deliver on Trump's promise to sharply and immediately reduce violent crime. More: Trump says Washington needs National Guard protection. Police data says crime is down. Cole just took over at DEA on July 23 after his Senate confirmation and oversees a staff of 10,000 agents and other personnel. But now Cole also will be taking over the top job at the Metropolitan Police Department at the personal direction of a man who made a name for himself by firing people for even the most minor screw-ups. In the same breath as telling Cole about his new position, in fact, Trump described him on Aug. 11 as 'our new DEA administrator, who's one of the top in the country.' 'He better be,' Trump added, looking at his new appointee. 'Terry, if you're not, I gotta get rid of you so fast.' More: 'Move Out, Immediately:' Trump's vision for ridding DC streets of homeless Cole is likely to face stiff opposition from Washington officials, including its city council and federal delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton. It was unclear how the police rank and file and the MPD's police union would respond to being run by the Trump administration. "We completely agree with the President that crime in the District of Columbia is out of control and something needs to be done with it," union chief Gregg Pemberton told Fox News. More: Trump says Washington is unsafe, but the data tells a more nuanced story Democratic lawmakers in Congress also criticized Trump's takeover of the MPD and his decision to send National Guard troops into the city to help reduce crime rates that DOJ itself said recently were at a 30-year low. Cole will also have to deliver results for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who Trump put in charge overall of the DOJ takeover. And he'll have another direct boss in U.S. Marshal Gadyaces 'Gady' Serralta, who Bondi said will be 'supervising command and control of the entire operation' under her and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. A DEA career and a state homeland security job Cole does have some experience working with local law enforcement and in juggling a lot of responsibilities. From 2023 to earlier this year, he served as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security. In that role, he oversaw 11 state public safety agencies comprising more than 19,000 employees and managing an annual budget of $5.7 billion. At DEA, one of Cole's highest priorities is to reduce drug-fueled violence in America's most affected cities through expanded partnerships with state and local law enforcement, according to the DEA's news release following his confirmation. Cole was praised by Trump and Patel on Monday for an interagency operation in Northern Virginia between the FBI and local authorities that resulted in the arrest of 545 people. 'What are we going to bring to DC? What we did in Northern Virginia, thanks to Terry Cole and Governor Youngkin and the team,' FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters. 'We said, let's let good cops be cops. Let's get them the intelligence and what they need, and let's get the red tape out of their way, and let's get DOJ partnered up with us to bring great prosecutions,' Patel said. 'And that's exactly what we did.' Posts in New York, DC, Colombia and Afghanistan Before his stint in Virginia, Cole was a respected 22-year career agent and supervisor at the DEA, where he served in Oklahoma, New York and Washington – as well as in Colombia, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Before retiring in 2020, Cole served as DEA's acting regional director of Mexico, Canada and Central America. He also served as a police officer in New York state. Michael Braun, one of Cole's former DEA colleagues, said he was 'a bit surprised' at the announcement but that Cole is up to the job. 'I know Terry very well, and the guy's quite capable of handling DEA as well as the DC Police Department,' Braun, the former DEA chief of operations. 'I mean, look, he's got a command staff in place at the DC police department and he's got his command staff in place at DEA. So he's going to have his hands full,' Braun said. 'But I have all the confidence in the world that he can do it.' But reducing crime in DC will be just one of Cole's assignments. Another will be managing Trump's expectations. And the president suggested he wants Cole to also tackle the thorny issues of wokeness and culture wars at a police force with a proud history of Black leadership. Looking at Cole, Trump told him to be 'tough' on the police force. 'You have a lot of good people. You have people that shouldn't be there. … They got in there because of woke,' Trump said. 'But you have a lot of great police and those people are the ones that want to help you.' An ally in the DC Police Union? Gregg Pemberton, chairman of the DC Police Union, appeared to welcome the move. 'We completely agree with the President that crime in the District of Columbia is out of control. Something needs to be done with it,' Pemberton said in an appearance on Fox News. The union chief said that in 2020, the DC City Council passed 'an enormous amount of legislation' that exposed officers to administrative, civil and even criminal liability, 'even when they do their jobs properly.' As a result, the department now has 3,180 sworn police officers, down 800 from its authorized strength of 4000. 'So the fact that we need help from federal law enforcement and maybe even the National Guard shouldn't come as a surprise,' Pemberton said. But, Pemberton added, 'to make sure that it doesn't ebb and flow, and that the feds come in and we lower crime, and then they leave and we're left holding the bag, it's very important that people know that there is underlying legislation that needs to be corrected so that we can actually properly staff this police department in order to properly police the city.' This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's new DC police boss: Terry Cole also leads the DEA Solve the daily Crossword
Miami Herald
6 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Miami man who swindled millions from Venezuelan-American investors sentenced to 7 years
Dozens of Venezuelan-Americans who were swindled by a local businessman after investing tens of millions of dollars in his payday loan company poured into Miami federal court on Thursday. One of them, David Villanueva, said he entrusted his life savings to Efrain Bentcourt Jr., the head of Sky Group USA, which used investors' funds to finance high-interest loans. 'We went to therapy,' Villanueva told U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, explaining that he lost 'the majority' of his $1.3 million investment in Sky Group. 'My whole family was affected by this. We considered going back to Venezuela because we found ourselves without any money.' Gayles punished Betancourt with a seven-year prison sentence — nine months more than a federal prosecutor recommended, following the former Sky Group CEO's guilty plea to a wire fraud conspiracy in an agreement struck in May. As part of that deal, Betancourt, a dual U.S. and Colombian citizen who was born in Venezuela and grew up in South Florida, must pay $8.3 million in a forfeiture judgment for the money that he pocketed from investors and used for personal expenses, including buying a Biscayne Boulevard luxury condo and financing his wedding at a chateau in the French Riviera.. Betancourt, 36, also will likely be ordered by the judge to pay back at least $23 million to hundreds of victims for their losses. In total, Betancourt attracted about 600 Venezuelans in South Florida to invest $66 million over five years into his business, which used the funds from new investors to pay off old ones before his scheme collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz called Betancourt a 'recidivist fraudster' who lied to investors, while defense attorney Sam Rabin argued that his client started his payday loan business with 'good intentions' before it turned into an investment scheme. 'To say that he's a serial fraudster is, frankly, unfair,' said Rabin, who urged the judge to give Betancourt a sentence of less than six years, to no avail. He suggested that about 40 investment victims coordinated a 'letter-writing campaign' to the court that seemed suspicious because of their similiar content — an accusation that Cruz strongly denied. Betancourt, who has not repaid any of his victims, appeared remorseful as he stood up in court to address the judge, saying he was ashamed of himself for hurting so many people. He pledged to pay them back. 'You deserve an apology,' said Betancourt, who drew support from his parents, a pastor and dozens of friends who attended his sentencing. 'I can only say that I didn't wake up in the morning and decide to break the law.' According to court records, Betancourt's company made about $12.2 million in consumer loans — far less than the $66 million Sky Group attracted from investors. Betancourt and other employees spent the rest of the investors' money on operating costs, sales agent commissions and personal expenses, according to a factual statement filed with his plea agreement. Betancourt has been in federal custody since his arrest last November by FBI agents at Miami International Airport, after Cruz argued he was a flight risk to Latin America or the United Arab Emirates. Three years ago, Betancourt and his company reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a parallel civil case. SEC lawyers accused him of using his payday loan business to fleece investors, and a federal judge ordered him and his company to pay back more than $39 million. But since the SEC settlement agreement, Bentacourt's investors have received nothing for their losses, according to authorities. Both the SEC and federal prosecutors accused Betancourt of operating a 'Ponzi scheme' that began in 2016 by selling promissory notes to investors with promises of double- and triple-digit annual returns. Some investors were paid back in part, but most were not, leaving a huge debt after Sky Group imploded during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Betancourt's scheme collapsed when countless borrowers defaulted on their payday loans during the pandemic. His company, Sky Group, incurred a severe cash-flow problem and was unable to make interest payments on investors' promissory notes. A Miami lawyer representing three investors who won civil arbitration cases against Betancourt said he brought the investment scheme to the SEC's attention years ago. 'These were people who had given all or part of their life savings to Mr. Betancourt,' attorney Richard Diaz told Judge Gayles during Thursday's sentencing hearing. After Betancourt lost at arbitration, he refused to apologize to the victims. 'I took a professional offense to that,' Diaz told Betancourt's defense attorney, Rabin, during the sentencing hearing. According to the SEC and federal court records, Betancourt misappropriated investors' money for his personal use, including buying a $1.5 million condominium at Epic Residences on Biscayne Boulevard and servicing his personal Piper airplane. Betancourt was also accused of transferring at least another $3.6 million to friends and family, including his ex-wife, Angelica Betancourt, and to another company, EEB Capital Group LLC, for 'no apparent legitimate business purpose,' SEC officials said. That company's bank accounts were controlled by Efrain Betancourt and his current wife, Leidy Badillo. In a SEC settlement in 2022, EEB Capital agreed to pay $2.2 million toward the judgment against Sky Group and Efrain Betancourt. Angelica Betancourt argued that she only earned an annual salary of $60,000 from the payday loan company, according to court records. But in 2022, she also agreed to pay about $1.1 million toward the judgment against Sky Group and her ex-husband.
