Federal agents seized a phone, bags of cash and computers from a Colorado Springs restaurant on Wednesday in what appears to be a money laundering investigation, according to witnesses and court documents.

The Drug Enforcement Administration raided El Ranchito, 3950 Airport Road, and El Ranchito No. 2, 3815 Maizeland Road. Both are restaurant-grocery stores east of Academy Boulevard.

“It seems like they’re trying to accuse us of money laundering or drugs, but there’s absolutely nothing illegal going on here,” said David Heurta, an accountant for the business. “It’s just harassment.”

The Gazette obtained a sealed search warrant for the second location that authorized law enforcement to obtain any “records, documents, physical items and proceeds from March 1, 2024, to the present found within the subject premises.” 

A witness, who wished to not be named, said he saw 10 to 15 law enforcement officials go into the second location, but he did not see any arrests.

A Gazette reporter saw at least four DEA agents, some masked, carrying a box with papers in it. The agents went into two unmarked vehicles — a van and a truck.

“It is an ongoing investigation with HSI (Homeland Security Investigations). ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is not involved,” the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division spokesperson told Gazette news partner KOAA-TV.

At the El Ranchito along Airport Road, the TV station saw DEA agents carrying evidence boxes out of the building, but it was unclear what was in them.

KOAA saw Homeland Security, DEA and officials with Enforcement and Removal Operations shortly after 1 p.m. at the location. ERO handles “all aspects” of the immigration enforcement process, including arrests and detainment, according to its website.

A Channel 5 crew captured officers walking out of the store with employees in handcuffs; however, law enforcement has not said who was detained and why.

In addition to DEA and Homeland Security, the FBI, IRS and local and state officials were seen in Colorado Springs and Denver on Wednesday, according to a statement from the DEA. The DEA declined to comment on the investigations other than to say it was prioritizing people who have “profited from the trafficking of illegal drugs and those who have enabled the laundering of illicit proceeds.”

At El Ranchito, DEA agents arrived in unmarked cars, blocked both entrances to the strip mall and stationed agents at the front and back entrances of the restaurant, said Keithlan Carter, a bystander who recorded what happened with his cellphone.

Another bystander, Michael Hodsi, told The Gazette that the people taken into custody “went with pride.”

“Some of those people, you know, they’ve taken care of me when I’ve been homeless out here on the street,” Hodsi said. “They truly believe in doing the right thing and they were truly good examples to me to do better, to become better.”

He described El Ranchito as a family-oriented business that treated everyone with respect.

A volunteer with the Colorado Rapid Response Network, a freelance group that tracks ICE activity across the state, said she also saw ERO agents at the first location, adding that law enforcement officials put five detained people wearing restaurant uniforms in an unmarked car.

The volunteer, who asked not to be named, said ICE has used other agencies as a guise in the past.

“They always bring someone else as kind of a smokescreen for an excuse to be there. And then if they just happen to find people who are not documented, then they’ll take them away — at least from what I’ve noticed,” the volunteer said. 

A week later: What we do and don’t know about the Black Forest ICE raid

DEA raid in Colorado Springs nets five ICE arrests amid Mexican drug cartel allegations

Wednesday’s investigations follow others by federal officials, including Aug. 7 when the DEA executed two search warrants at an apartment complex in eastern Colorado Springs that was allegedly being used to distribute drugs by Mexican cartel members and July 31 when a housing development in Black Forest was raided by ICE operatives. 

Federal operations in Colorado Springs began April 27 when an early-morning raid happened at 296 S. Academy Blvd., at the northwest corner of Academy Boulevard and Airport Road. The DEA estimated there were about 200 people inside the nightclub. About 300 law enforcement agents from multiple agencies participated in the raid, including the DEA, Colorado Springs police, and the El Paso and Douglas County sheriff’s offices.

The raid led to 18 people taken into custody after 104 were detained.

Three individuals were criminally charged after the raid. The most notable was Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez, a 27-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Carson.

Orona-Rodriguez was arrested for alleged cocaine distribution just days after a large-scale federal raid of a Colorado Springs illegal nightclub in late April has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges.

Orona-Rodriguez appeared out of custody May 29 after a federal judge ruled he was eligible for release at his last hearing May 15.