On a frost-touched Tuesday morning, an extensive law enforcement operation came to a head at an unassuming pawnshop in the Denver metro area. The Westminster Police Department, backed by an array of law enforcement partners, executed a search warrant yesterday at the Aurora Gold Buyer pawnshop located at 8030 E Mississippi Ave, following a multi-year investigation into what emerged as a nexus for stolen goods. The pawnshop, engulfed in allegations, was found to be trading in loot funnelled from thefts and robberies across various retailers.
The investigation, taking root in October 2023, traced the shop’s nefarious activities to over hundreds of incidents plaguing stores such as King Soopers, Safeway, Target, Lowe’s, and Home Depot, each a victim of the orchestration of crime that led to over $1 million in losses. According to a social media post by the Westminster Police Department, the trove of pilfered items, numbering in the hundreds, was recovered from within the pawnshop’s confines during the operation. “This investigation has spanned more than two years, and we are grateful to everyone who played a role in it,” stated WPD Detective Jason Cirbo.
The sting operation ensnared one Sergey Nikolaev, 54, an employee of the pawnshop, who now faces the cold confines of Arapahoe County Jail. Nikolaev was charged under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, with ancillary charges including money laundering, theft, and Pawnbroker Act Violations. The execution of the warrant was bolstered by collaborations with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office – Colorado, the Colorado Organized Retail Crime Alliance, and several retail giants’ organized retail crime investigators…