LONGMONT -- Three years ago the tide in drug investigations in Boulder County changed.

Longmont police called that change "Operation Private Dancer."

The monthslong investigation into a local cocaine and methamphetamine ring led to 41 indictments with those at the top of the organization ultimately sent to prison for up to 14 years. Since Private Dancer, the county has seen five other major drug ring busts that disrupted -- at least temporarily -- the flow of the most illicit and addictive drugs into the county and led to the arrests and prosecutions of dozens of drug suppliers and dealers.

"I think Private Dancer set the standard," said Boulder County prosecutor Ken Kupfner, who is a familiar face for drug offenders in the county. He leads drug prosecutions and recently has been joined by fellow prosecutor Fred Johnson.

In January, 18 more cocaine ring suspects added to their caseload as local and federal officers swept across the county arresting suspects in an organization moving up to a half kilo in a single deal.

The investigation was known as "El Gaucho."

Bigger picture

Operations Private Dancer, Bad Cowboy, Little Red Riding Hood, Halfway House Hunters, El Gaucho, and a sixth-unnamed ecstasy operation in Boulder moved local drug investigations away from single arrests of often low-level dealers and users to targeting entire drug structures to dismantle them.

"What we have been trying do to ... is try to get into the people who have a significant impact and work our way back into the bigger suppliers," said Boulder County Sheriff's Sgt. Nick Goldberger, who just concluded a five-year assignment with the Boulder County Drug Task Force.


The drug-ring investigations use advanced technology, partnerships with federal drug officials and difficult-to-obtain wiretap warrants to net not only street-level dealers and users, but the top-level dealers moving meth, cocaine and heroin into the community, often from Mexican sources. These techniques were always available to local law enforcement, but were often so cost and labor intensive that they remained tools primarily used in federal investigations.

 Longmont police officers Keith Bell, left, and David Bonday arrest Erasmo Fernandez at American Furniture Warehouse in Firestone during Operation Private
Longmont police officers Keith Bell, left, and David Bonday arrest Erasmo Fernandez at American Furniture Warehouse in Firestone during Operation Private Dancer on Dec. 22, 2010. ( Lewis Geyer/Times-Call file )

Traditional techniques, like surveillance, undercover officers who infiltrate the drug operations, and confidential informants who help police remain touchstones of the long-term process, as well.

"It obviously requires a significant investment in doing an investigation like this from a resources standpoint," Kupfner said.

But he and Longmont Police Department's Special Enforcement Unit Sgt. Sean Harper said it pays in the long run.

"My guys are out beating the bushes all the time and after we take down a drug ring there is a significant drop in the criminal element activity," Harper said, adding that drug activity tends to fall off the radar for weeks at a time after a ring is disrupted.

Goldberger said disrupting suppliers makes a difference in the quality of life for the rest of the community because those suppliers and their top dealers can find themselves in financial trouble that leads to other crimes, like robberies, burglaries, even family crimes.

"Once you get over user amounts it is not just affecting that person, and when you get into a large person dealing kilo amounts it is affecting the whole community," Goldberger said. "It affects everyone. It is exponential."

The larger investigations also are aimed at taking drug suspects out of the equation for a long time. Often, those who are indicted find themselves facing felony drug charges with mandatory sentencing along with organized crime and racketeering charges.

"If you do a deal with a drug dealer and walk away from that, you don't get any insight into the number of people he might be selling to and the quantities that might be involved," Kupfner said.

That can mean a relatively minor charge and relatively minor penalty. More in-depth operations take longer, but can develop evidence for drug manufacturing and distribution crimes with mandatory sentencing between four and 12 years.

Kupfner said Boulder District Judge Thomas Mulvahill has routinely told those sentenced for drug dealing that dealing is their business and he intends to fashion sentences to make the cost of business too high to continue.

Better partnerships, new tools

In recent years, the Boulder County District Attorney's Office has worked to shore up relationships with federal drug enforcement -- and the funding that comes with them -- the Longmont Police Department's Special Enforcement Unit and Boulder County Drug Task Force. The SEU and task force are the primary local drug units working in Boulder County.

Kupfner said that has allowed prosecutors to work alongside investigators during long-term operations providing legal advice on the investigators' work and running point on getting wiretap warrants, which are a high legal bar to clear. Federal partnerships on the investigations have brought additional money and manpower to the table for lengthy undercover work, surveillance and high cost of wiretap technology, Kupfner said.

Harper said those improved relationships have been vital. The focus on major dealers has always existed, he said, but the rubber met the road when law enforcement started working more closely across jurisdictions.

"It is a much better way to attack the criminal element," he said.

Investigators also are leveraging new technologies to keep better track of suspects and collect more evidence. Kupfner said he didn't want to talk specifically about those technologies because that information can change the way suspects behave. Notably, he said some change phones frequently to try to avoid wiretaps.

"Technology has helped us out a lot," Goldberger said. "We can be more efficient with our time. We don't have to have people everywhere. We can just have equipment in places to do some of the surveillance."

More to come

Drug suspects are no longer just facing possession or dealing charges. In Boulder County, charges can include organized crime and racketeering. Many of the top-level suppliers are walking away with second-degree felony records and serious prison terms. Kupfner said the law forces law enforcement to show how the informal organizations work and helps to organize the information for grand juries.

He said presenting the information to the secretly convened juries in cases with large numbers of defendants cuts down on the court process later because charges are filed directly into state court, instead of working through a county court process. In Private Dancer, he said, it saved his office 41 potential preliminary hearings.

"I believe it is a better charging document," Kupfner said of the exhaustive grand jury indictments.

Despite major busts, large numbers of suspects, and longer prison terms, the drug investigators are not putting themselves out of business.

Kupfner said Boulder County does try to treat drug addictions for users and low-level dealers who sometimes sell drugs to support their own habits, but the market remains. Users and low-level dealer also routinely are swept up in drug ring busts, but Kupfner said they are prosecuted only for the level of activity in which they engaged. Some in Private Dancer were convicted only of misdemeanors or received deferred sentences, which would allow charges to be dismissed so long as they did not reoffend over a period of time.

Although there have been multiple rings busted up and dozens prosecuted just since 2010, Kupfner and the investigators say there are more to come.

"Unfortunately, as long as there is a market, there is always someone willing to take the risk," Kupfner said.

Harper and Goldberger have seen it first hand.

Undercover officers hit the streets after a bust and look for drug supplies. Harper said initially there is nothing.

"It slowly resurfaces," he said. "As long as there is demand you are going to find somebody who is going to jump into supply."

Goldberger agreed.
