CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A car crash in Aurora last August helped investigators discover a crime ring with multiple victims.
"This group, this criminal enterprise, wreaked havoc on our community," John Kellner, district attorney with the 18th Judicial District, said Wednesday.
Six suspects, including a mother and her two kids, are accused of stealing people's identities to buy expensive cars and commit robberies with them, among other crimes.
Earlier this month, a grand jury indicted Kaile Stevens, Keandre Stevens, Emmazetta Chargingcrow, Tavarious Robinson, Omari Davis and Jadeen Hollumn on a combined 54 counts.
"The progression of events, in this case, led to some very serious violent crime in Aurora, and that's simply unacceptable," Aurora Police Interim Chief Dan Oates said.
In addition to a shooting that injured a man, some of that violent crime happened at multiple convenience stores across the Denver metro, including a Circle K and six 7-Elevens.
"They terrorized innocent, convenience store clerks who had guns pointed in their faces," Kellner said.
Using fake documents and stolen IDs, the group is accused of buying a total of 10 cars, from a BMW to several Mercedes Benz. In one case, they bought four cars under one stolen identity of a woman based in California.
"The complex fraud that was going on here was something I've never seen in the 13 years that I've been a prosecutor," Chief Deputy D.A. Darcy Kofol said. "This group went to lengths to actually change a mailing address for one of these individuals so that individual stopped getting their mail. And the mail was actually sent to the address of this criminal organization because they had taken over that person's identity to that extent."
Denver7 spoke with a victim of the crime ring, who did not want to be identified. She says the suspects stole her identity by breaking into her home and taking her purse.
"I had a good sense that they are part of a much bigger ring, just because of how quickly they were able to reprint my checks with other names on it and how quickly they were able to get money out of my bank," the victim said.
If convicted, the suspects could spend years in prison. Investigators are working to determine if they're part of a larger ring.
"We will continue to investigate this group and identify any other people associated with it if they're still out there," Kellner said.