Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided Colt Grill locations in the Village of Oak Creek and Cottonwood on Tuesday, July 15.
At least five people were detained in the VOC and transported to Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office for HSI.
“Special agents with ICE Homeland Security Investigations and partner agencies are executing multiple criminal/federal arrest and search warrants in the northern Arizona,” Homeland Security Investigations Southwest Deputy Communications Chief Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe wrote in an email Tuesday morning. ” The investigation is ongoing; updates will be issued as they become available.”
Daulton Venglar/Larson Newspapers
“The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, with Homeland Security Investigations and multiple other federal agencies, are currently working in Yavapai County on a complex criminal investigation involving alleged criminal activity including money laundering and labor exploitation that is tied to all locations of the Colt Grill,” YCSO posted to Facebook. “Multiple local police departments in Yavapai County are assisting with scene security and ensuring public safety while these search warrants are being served.”
There was at least one special agent for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General’s Labor Racketeering and Fraud investigations department in the VOC and Internal Revenue Service agents.
Daulton Venglar/Larson Newspapers
“If you notice increased law enforcement presence at any of these locations in Yavapai County, please avoid the area while court ordered search warrants are served and the investigation is conducted,” YCSO posted.
Daulton Venglar/Larson Newspapers
The Sedona Police Department is “assisting with scene security and ensuring public safety, city of Sedona Lauren Browne Communications Director wrote in an email.
Operations were also reportedly simultaneously conducted at Colt Grill locations in Prescott, Prescott Valley and Foley, Ala.
A YCSO deputy reportedly told family members at the scene that YCSO is taking people into custody based on their immigration status and holding them for HSI at the Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde.
UPDATE, 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 15
“This morning, around 11 a.m., HSI lead enforcement activity alongside multiple federal and local law enforcement partners to include ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, Yavapai County, the U.S. Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations in the execution of 28 federal search warrants and four federal arrest warrants specifically in the areas of Prescott, Prescott Valley, Cottonwood, Sedona and Yavapai County, and Foley, Ala., related to illicit money laundering, labor exploitation and human smuggling,” Pitts O’Keefe wrote at 4:04 p.m., adding additional charges may be forthcoming.
“Today’s planned enforcement activity resulted in the arrest of four targets who are alleged to have participated in money laundering among other charges,” Pitts O’Keefe wrote. “Over 20 immigration related arrests also took place, but that number has not been finalized as interviews are ongoing.”
“The success of this operation is a result of the close coordinated efforts by our partner law enforcement agencies, all who had significant impact in this three-year long federal investigation. This is an ongoing investigation.”
UPDATE, 1 p.m., Wednesday, July 16
The federal indictment lists Colt Grill owners Brenda and Robert “Bob” Kenneth Clouston and employees Luis Pedro Rogel Jaimes and Iris Romero Molina. The four were arraigned at 10 a.m., Wednesday, July 16, before U.S. District Court for Arizona Judge Camille D. Bibles at the Flagstaff Courthouse.
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Photos of the HSI and ICE operation at the Colt Grill location in the Village of Oak Creek:
