A longtime Greeley coach and teacher pleaded guilty late last month in federal court to destroying evidence in an investigation into a large-scale cocaine distribution network in northern Colorado, which also has been tied to a former Weld District Court judge.

Geoffrey Chacon, 32, pleaded guilty Nov.21 in U.S. District Court to one count of knowingly destroying evidence withthe intent of impeding a federal criminal investigation. Specifically, Chaconis accused of destroying on May 4 text messages between himself, an accuseddrug dealer and a local judge about an ongoing investigation into a cocainedistribution network based in Greeley.

Court records don’t identify the twoother suspects, referring to them simply as “drug dealer” and “judge.” However,as one of the terms of his personal recognizance bond, Chacon is prohibitedfrom contact with Alberto “Beto” Loya and former Weld District Court Judge RyanKamada.

Alberto “Beto” Loya

Loya, 46, was indictedJuly 16 by the Weld County grand jury on suspicion of 21 felony charges, including 10 counts ofillegal distribution of a Schedule 1 controlled substance, eight counts ofconspiracy to illegally distribute a Schedule 1 controlled substance, twocounts of money laundering and one count of illegal distribution of marijuanaconcentrate. He is accused of running a sophisticated narcotics networkresponsible for distributing large amounts of cocaine in Greeley, Evans,Loveland and Longmont, according to court records.

Newsabout Loya’s indictment, and the arrests of some of his associates, wasreleased Aug. 21 by the Greeley Police Department, a day after Kamada’s suddenresignation.

Kamadawas first a Weld County magistrate beginning in 2015. He was appointed inSeptember 2018 by Gov. John Hickenlooper to a districtcourt judgeship following the retirement of Elizabeth Strobel.

Kamadajoined Burnham Law in September where his areas of practice include family law,mediation and arbitration. The firm has offices in Denver, Boulder, ColoradoSprings and Fort Collins.

Ryan Kamada, after taking the bench in 2015 as a Weld County magistrate

In October 2018, the Weld County DrugTask Force, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI launched aninvestigation into Loya’s alleged cocaine distribution network. Thatinvestigation included a variety of tactics including the use of trackingdevices on suspect vehicles and wiretaps, according to court records.

On Oct. 5, 2018, investigatorsintercepted a text message Chacon sent to the “drug dealer.” Chacon asked thedrug dealer if he could spot him a “bag” of cocaine. He said he would settle upafter getting paid from refereeing.

Similar texts setting up buys for personal amounts of cocaine were intercepted Oct. 6, Nov. 1 and Nov. 11. On Dec. 7, Chacon sent the drug dealer a text asking if he wanted to get together to “have a snow storm.”

Chacon went to the drug dealer’s officewhere police say he and the drug dealer took cocaine together. Court recordsnote the drug dealer is suspected of conducting some of his illegal drugbusiness out of his office.

Loya is accused of engaging in numerous cocainebuys with an undercover officer at his office, 3400 16th St., Suite MM, inGreeley, according to a 50-page, 62-count indictment made public in September.

On April 23, the “judge” was serving asthe on-call judge for the 19th Judicial District, which encompasses all of WeldCounty. On that day, a member of the Weld County Drug Task Force called thejudge about securing a warrant for a tracking device for the drug dealer’s car.The investigator mentioned to the judge that she noticed he was a friend onFacebook with the drug dealer and Chacon, according to court records.

Kamada and Chacon’s Facebook accountsare no longer active.

The judge recused himself from signingoff on the warrant given the relationship. Early the next day, on April 24, thejudge called Chacon and told him the police were watching the drug dealer’shouse, car and phone, according to court records.

Later that day, Chacon called one of hiscousins and asked him to warn the drug dealer about the investigation. Chacontold his cousin not to name the judge as the source of the information,according to court records.

On May 3, Chacon told the drug dealerabout the investigation in person outside of a bar on 8th Avenue in Greeley.That night, Chacon contacted the judge through an Xbox video game and asked foran update on the investigation.

The judge told Chacon he was at a lunchearlier that day with other judges from the district and learned detectiveswere pursuing the investigation “the old school way.” The judge added peoplewithin the organization “were flipping” and cooperating with law enforcement,according to court records.

The next day, Chacon deleted all of histext messages with the drug dealer and the judge. The drug task force, the FBIand the DEA were able to successfully recover some of those texts, but not all,according to court records.

The information Chacon provided to thedrug dealer “substantially interfered” with the drug task force’sinvestigation, as the drug dealer began using a different car and a differentphone to conduct his illegal business, according to court records.

The drug dealer slowed down his activities and cleaned his home and his office, which is why investigators didn’t find any evidence of illicit activity when, on May 15, search warrants were executed by the drug task force, according to court records. Chacon’s destruction of the text messages also has hampered law enforcement’s investigation into the judge’s decision to leak information about the ongoing investigation, according to court records.

Formal charges have not yet been filed against Kamada, said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Chacon is scheduled to return to U.S. District Court at 9 a.m. May 15 for sentencing before Philip Brimmer, chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Colorado. The statutory penalty for his crime is a federal prison sentence not to exceed 20 years. According to disposition paperwork, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is recommending a prison term of 15 to 46 months.

Chacon was most recently hired over the summer to serve as assistant principal at Prairie Heights Middle School. He resigned about a month after he was hired, said Theresa Myers, spokeswoman for Greeley-Evans School District 6.

– Joe Moylan covers crime and public safety for The Greeley Tribune.Reach him at jmoylan@greeleytribune.com, (970) 392-4467 or on Twitter@JoeMoylan.