Colorado authorities arrest Iowa convict after ranch burglary
A 43-year-old man who allegedly stole firearms and a pickup truck from a ranch was captured Friday night after a day-long manhunt in northwestern Colorado.
Officers and deputies took Valentin Velez into custody shortly after sunset. They were first notified of the burglary and theft almost 10 hours earlier.
The Moffat County Sheriff's Office responded to the initial call at 10:15 a.m. Dispatchers were told that at least one thief had taken several firearms from the ranch at Moffat County Roads 103 and 6, about 10 miles northwest of Craig. The suspect(s) fled in an older Dodge pickup with Wyoming plates. One deputy on his way to the scene encountered the truck and started to pursue it. The pickup truck eluded the deputy.
Then, a witness called 9-1-1 and described the pickup entering the Cedar Mountain Recreation Area about six miles south of the ranch. The day-use area is operated by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and has one access road.
"There is one way in and one way out," said Moffat County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Nicholas Cordova, "and the truck never came out."
A shelter-in-place order was broadcast to the area at 11:30 a.m. Moffat deputies, accompanied by Craig Police Department officers, Colorado Parks and Wildlife personnel, BLM officers, and the county's Combined Special Response Team, began searching for the truck and suspect(s).
A drone located the truck. The stolen firearms were inside it, but no suspect was with it.
At 3:30 p.m., the shelter-in-place order was lifted. The search effort was called off, although Craig and Moffat law officers stayed in the area and warned civilians to consider the suspect(s) to still be armed and dangerous.
It was at 8 p.m. that a suspicious man was reported walking along County Road 7 outside the recreation area. One Moffat deputy and one Craig officer approached the man and chased him when he started to run. The officers used a taser to take him into custody.
A loaded handgun was found on Velez at the time of his arrest.
Velez was booked into the Moffat County Jail on four felony charges -- theft, auto theft, burglary and distribution of fentanyl -- and five misdemeanors.
Velez is an Omaha, Nebraska resident, according to online public records. He was released from the Iowa Department of Corrections last summer following a 2018 kidnapping arrest. Humboldt County deputies found the woman and arrested Velez in an apartment after she reached out to family and friends on a social media post, per local media reports.
The burglarized ranch was singled out by Velez, MCSO's Cordova told CBS Colorado. "It appears this was not a targeted burglary but rather a crime of opportunity and random."
The burglary and theft are still under investigation, Cordova added, and more leads are being pursued. Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff's office at 970-824-6501.
