GPS tracker on Denver marijuana shop’s stolen cash led police to four alleged robbers
Published: Oct 25, 2017, 9:08 pm • Updated: Oct 25, 2017, 9:17 pm
By Tom McGhee, The Denver Post
Denver police arrested two men suspected of terrorizing a Denver marijuana dispensary’s customers and employees during a July armed robbery before the pair allegedly joined two other suspects and robbed the same store again less than a month later.
Tayone Givens, 21, and Thomas Wilson, 23, are charged with two counts of second-degree kidnapping, two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of crime of violence, a sentence enhancer, in connection with the July 28 robbery of the Green Dragon Cannabis shop at 5130 East Colfax Ave.
Givens and Wilson are also charged with one count of aggravated robbery, and two counts of first-degree kidnapping in connection with an August robbery at the same store.
Two other defendants, Myles Stephens, 28, and Marrell Jones, 26, face similar charges for the August robbery.
Following the Aug. 14 robbery, police followed a signal from a tracking device secreted in the cash that the thieves took and caught all four suspects, according to a probable cause statement.
Three people were in the shop at about 9:30 p.m. that night when three men came in, pointed pistols at the victims and ordered them to get on the floor. The thieves plundered two cash registers and took “numerous packages of marijuana.”
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About 10 minutes later, police received a call from a company that monitors GPS tracking devices that are placed in business cash drawers.
“The representative reported that a GPS tracker that was taken with the money during the robbery … had tracked to within 39 feet,” of a location blocks away on North Ash Street, according to the probable cause statement.
Officers went to the location, and saw two people walking out a rear door into an alley. One of them fled when police ordered the pair to stop. The other complied.
Police chased and caught Givens. He was wearing a backpack and when police searched it they found packages of pot bearing the Green Dragon label, as well as cash and a semi-automatic handgun.
A woman allowed other officers who were looking for suspects to enter her home on North Ash.
“Officers heard what sounded like persons climbing through the vents or a crawl space in the basement.”
They found the two remaining suspects — Wilson and Jones — trying to hide as they changed clothing. Clothing found at the scene matched descriptions of those worn by the robbers.
The July robbery followed a similar pattern, with Givens and Wilson, both allegedly armed with pistols and wearing hoodies and bandannas over their faces, forcing an employee to open a cash drawer.
Security cameras caught all the action.
Prosecutors charged all four men in the August robbery on Aug. 18. On Oct. 20, Givens and Wilson were charged for the July 28 robbery.
This story was first published on DenverPost.com
Topics: Colorado, Denver, pot shops, robbery, security
