Colorado’s statewide grand jury indicted 10 people in an alleged drug trafficking ring that stretched from the far southeast corner of the state to the Denver metro area.
Criminal cases were filed in Adams County and 200 miles away in Prowers county for distribution of fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine, the Colorado Attorney General’s office announced on Friday.
Joshua Hyatt, Edward Monroe, and Asia Ralstin face the most combined charges. Steve Yang, Carlos Robinson (also known as Big R), Chester Gray, Dayla White, Chelsea Hall-Chavira, Juan Mendoza and Louie Gonzales were also indicted.
Of those, only Hyatt and Hall-Chavira were in custody Friday afternoon.
It’s unclear how the investigation started, but law enforcement relied on surveillance, including GPS on the suspect’s vehicles to intercept drugs though traffic stops. They also intercepted calls allegedly detailing drug transactions, according to the indictments.
While the ring trafficked in a variety of drugs, the largest seizures were for fentanyl: Almost 30 pounds of fentanyl, and pills containing fentanyl, were recovered, according to the Colorado Attorney General’s office.
“By holding these traffickers accountable and keeping these dangerous drugs out of our communities, we can save lives in Colorado,” said Attorney General Phil Weiser in a prepared statement.
Weiser’s office said he could not comment beyond the press release, since it is an open case.
The first named defendant in the indictment, Joshua Hyatt, 37, has a lengthy Colorado arrest record starting back in 2006 when was 18. He has been in and out of prison on numerous charges for motor vehicle theft, menacing and burglary in southern Colorado. He was sentenced to 12 years for a felony robbery that occurred in 2013. In 2020, he was arrested in Pueblo for cocaine distribution and for felon in possession of a weapon charges. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
Three months ago, on Oct. 19, Hyatt was arrested in Adams County — the federal Drug Enforcement Administration is listed as the agency on the case, according to court records. The DEA would not comment on the case, but the Colorado Attorney General’s press release says investigators seized a cache of drugs from a search of his vehicle in October: more than three pounds of fentanyl, more than four pounds of methamphetamine, 126 grams of cocaine, and 87 grams of heroin.
The indictments come as federal and local law enforcement appear to have stepped up work on large drug cases. According to the DEA, fentanyl pill seizures in Colorado topped 2.8 million in 2024, breaking the previous record of 2.6 million in 2023.
The DEA helped dismantle a fentanyl and methamphetamine drug trafficking ring in Northern Colorado last March, resulting in the seizure more than 19 pounds of fentanyl, or 85,000 dose units. And in November, the DEA teamed up with Colorado Springs Police and New Mexico authorities on a bust, resulting in the recovery of 670,000 pills.
