Soldier at a Colorado nightclub during an immigration raid charged with
distributing cocaine
[May 02, 2025]
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
DENVER (AP) — A soldier present at an after-hours nightclub where more
than 100 immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally were taken
into custody appeared in court Thursday to face charges that he
distributed cocaine.
Staff Sgt. Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez, who is assigned to Fort Carson,
an Army post near the illegal club in Colorado Springs, was arrested
Wednesday evening, the FBI said.
He allegedly sold cocaine to an undercover agent of the Drug Enforcement
Administration days before the raid and is accused of working with
others to distribute the drug since around September, according to his
arrest affidavit.
Orona-Rodriguez — a member of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team in the
4th Infantry Division — was dressed in camouflage pants and a khaki
T-shirt and held court documents in his handcuffed hands during his
brief court hearing. He listened as the magistrate judge explained his
rights and agreed to appoint a public defender to represent him.
At the request of Assistant U.S. Attorney Garreth Winstead, Orona-Rodriguez
will continue to be held until a hearing to discuss his detention on
Tuesday. His lawyer, Josh Lilley, did not address the allegations
against him during the hearing and declined to comment after the
hearing, citing the public defenders' policy against speaking to the
media.
More than 300 law enforcement officers and officials from multiple
agencies participated in Sunday’s operation at the nightclub, which had
been under investigation for months, said Jonathan Pullen, special agent
in charge of the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division.
Cocaine was among the drugs found, Pullen said at a news conference in
Colorado Springs, whose leaders have declared that it is not a
“sanctuary city” for migrants.
Orona-Rodriguez was one of about 17 active-duty U.S. Army service
members who were at the club, known as Warike, when it was raided early
Sunday, the affidavit said.
He appears to have held a leadership role in a business that provides
armed security at nightclubs, including at Warike, according to the
document. However, it did not say whether he was working security there
at the time of the raid. It notes that he had been warned by his
commanding officer this spring that he could not work for the security
company.
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According to the arrest affidavit, police received 911 calls related
to the club “citing a wide variety of alleged crimes, including
weapons violations, assault, narcotics, and other violent crime.”
Two people wanted in connection with criminal misdemeanor cases were
also arrested during the raid, Colorado Springs police said.
Colorado Springs mayor Yemi Mobolade, a political independent and
Nigerian immigrant, has expressed support for the operation, which
he said was the “result of clear evidence of serious criminal
conduct.”
“Our residents deserve to live in a city where the rule of law is
upheld and where illegal behavior is met with firm and decisive
action,” he said in a statement.
President Donald Trump posted a link to the DEA video of the raid on
his social media site, Truth Social. “A big Raid last night on some
of the worst people illegally in our Country — Drug Dealers,
Murderers, and other Violent Criminals, of all shapes and sizes,”
the president wrote.
Rodriguez received more than a dozen Army awards during his almost
nine years in service, including an Army Commendation Medal with
combat device, which is earned during a deployment where the soldier
was “performing meritoriously under the most arduous combat
conditions,” according to Army descriptions of the award.
Of the 17 soldiers who were at the venue at the time of the raid, 16
were patrons and one was working there in a security role, a U.S.
official said on the condition of anonymity to provide details not
yet made public. Sixteen of the soldiers there were assigned to Fort
Carson, the official did not know where the seventeenth was
assigned.
Investigators suspect Orona-Rodriguez was getting cocaine from an
unidentified Mexican citizen who is “unlawfully present in the
United States without admission,” according to the affidavit.
Orona-Rodriguez was charged with two drug-related counts, including
conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
_____
Associated Press writer Tara Copp in Washington, D.C., contributed
to this report.
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