Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Friday captured one of two immigrants who allegedly escaped from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Aurora earlier this week.
Joel Jose Gonzalez-Gonzalez was contacted by deputies responding to a report of a suspicious person in unincorporated Adams County near 64th Avenue and Beech Street, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Adam Sherman.
Gonzalez-Gonzalez was detained and brought to a sheriff’s office substation, where he was then taken into custody by ICE agents, Sherman said.
Denver ICE spokesperson Steve Kotecki said the other escapee, Geilond Vido-Romero, was still at large as of Friday morning.
The two reportedly escaped after a power outage at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora unlocked a set of doors. The GEO Group, which runs the facility, said in a statement that the outage may have allowed the two to bypass security and scale a perimeter fence.
Gonzalez-Gonzalez was previously arrested by ICE on Feb. 12 after they encountered him at the Adams County Jail in January. He was awaiting immigration proceedings. Vido-Romero was arrested by the agency in Castle Rock on Feb. 26 after officers contacted him at the Douglas County Jail and was awaiting deportation to Venezuela, federal officials said Wednesday.
ICE and the Aurora Police Department have since come into conflict over the response by law enforcement to the escape, with ICE saying Aurora police refused to help with the search, and Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain saying The GEO Group waited hours to report the incident to 911.
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