CANON CITY, Colo. (KKTV) – Twenty-three suspects are facing charges in what law enforcement say was a wide-ranging marijuana distribution scheme spanning several Colorado counties and with ties to other states.
“Twenty-three individuals who allegedly engaged in a scheme of manufacturing and processing marijuana in Fremont County, Pueblo County, and El Paso County, which was then to be illegally distributed out of state, bypassing enacted regulations and tax requirements,” the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in announcing the indictments Thursday morning.
The crime ring was allegedly spearheaded by a couple of employees with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and at one point devolved into a shootout at one of the distribution properties, according to the CBI.
It was that shootout that first clued investigators into the operation, the bureau said.
“The investigation began after a violent shootout at one of the properties in Fremont County, where a 57-year-old female was hit by gunfire while holding an 18-month-old. The female survived her injuries, and thankfully the toddler was not harmed,” the CBI said.
Investigators soon learned the shootout stemmed from an alleged robbery at an illegal marijuana manufacturing site. That led to the discovery of related properties in Fremont, El Paso and Pueblo counties.
“Search warrants of the involved properties … led to the seizure of 1,150 illicit marijuana plants,…