The first charges against one of the soldiers arrested in the underground nightclub in Colorado Springs is public…
An Army soldier who was arrested as part of a raid on an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last week is suspected of possessing and distributing cocaine while also trafficking firearms with high-capacity magazines to illegal aliens, according to a criminal complaint.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced Thursday that 28-year-old Staff Sgt. Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez has been charged with a single count each of distribution of and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on Wednesday, the criminal complaint alleges that Orona-Rodriguez sold cocaine to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent the week of April 21.
Full article HERE from Fox News.
That answers a few questions we had, but raises quite a few more… An article, HERE from the Colorado Springs Gazette has a few more answers.
The staff sergeant had apparently been told the company was off limits, and he did not have permission to work a second job, according to reports. One wonders how many of the other Army personnel were in the same boat?
And why did their command let them get away with it? Fort Carson has been in the news for other issues in the last year, including questions about their food service, command climate, and ‘internal’ issues.
I guess now there will also be a CID investigation into dope dealing on base, to add to all the digging they will be doing into the other 16 Army soldiers there…
One also wonders about the staff sergeant’s background and how he got hooked up with the gangs associated with the underground nightclub. And whether we will ever know the truth, or whether it will be buried.
Not like that hasn’t happened before…
The troops are openly dealing drugs on base these days. The commands don’t care as long as they get their cut. And if the troops complain to CID or the IG, well, their remains are usually found in the maneuver areas a few weeks later. Hands zip tied behind their backs, shot in the back of the head, officially recorded as suicides.
As for gang membership, well, without masses of young white men volunteering for the past several years, where do you think they’ve been getting their enlistees?
These soldiers must be court martialed and given the proper sentences accorded by the UCMJ after their appearances in Federal Court.
And then shot.
hey Old NFO
I am seeing the rot from the 70’s “hollow Army where they grabbed recruits from where they could get them from, usually from the slums and barrio’s, the usual “flyover” kids that normally make up the bulk of the enlistee’s were doing a hard pass after seeing how ate up with wokeness the Army and the U.S. Military was going in general and decided *nope*. Also a lot of the gangs wanted their foot soldiers to get good training so it would be useful once they got out and the military being *woke* wern’t gonna question a *BIPOC* background very much for fear of being termed “Racist”. so yeah the military especially the Army will have a loyalty problem.
Ain’t shocked. Back before 9-11, Fort Hood had active gang activity on it. Fort Riley had it’s own problems. Recruiting is always going to go for numbers, not quality. It’s just a fact of life in the military, especially the Army since it’s the largest branch and requires the most grain for the mill. There was a point where gangs were actively sending the members that they could into the Army in order to have trained members come back and teach tactics to the rest of the hoodlums. The military eventually reflects the society that it recruits from.
There have been many instances where young men were given the opportunity of joining the military or going to jail. In the cases where they joined instead of doing hard time there is always the question of where their loyalty lies – the gang or the service. MANY young men cleaned up their lives in the military and there were others who did not.
A SSG can make a lot more of money moonlighting as a criminal particularly if his command is run by inattentive leaders – than he can working for Uncle Sam.
Long gone are the days of Sgt Bilko.
All- Good points, and yes, I remember hearing about the ‘gangs’ on Army bases around the time I retired.
LL- True. I know we had a few problems in Navy aviation, but not many that I was aware of.
It’s a virtual certainty that all the soldiers working this event were gang members prior to enlistment. There are TONS of gang members in the military.
Dan- Maybe…or joined or were ‘directed’ to join…
Fort Cartoon was a $h!t show in a flaming dumpster when I was stationed there in the early 90s, doesn’t sound like it’s improved any.