The Colorado Springs Police Department has identified an ongoing rise in retail crime across the City of Colorado Springs, although this situation is occurring across the entire nation. Law Enforcement has identified a nexus between retail theft cases and drug use, often tied to the Fentanyl crisis occurring in our community.
On September 22, 2022, Colorado Springs Police Department Divisional Detectives and Patrol Officers partnered with area retailers for a targeted Shoplifting Deployment. The deployment partnered with local loss prevention employees at various retail stores to identify in progress shoplifts and have law enforcement contact the shoplifters, detain, and arrest or cite the shoplifters when it applied. The goal of the targeted deployment was to address multiple shoplifting hot spots across the city.
During the targeted deployment, officers made eight total arrests and cleared four felony warrants, 5 misdemeanor warrants, and served two outstanding citations. Two of the arrests were for new felony level charges for possession of Fentanyl. One of the suspects arrested, Ryan Hensler, had a stolen handgun in his possession at the time of the arrest. It was found this gun was taken three weeks ago in an area just outside Salt Lake City, Utah.
- Ryan Hensler, 33 years old of Colorado Springs
- New charges - Introducing Contraband in the First Degree, Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of Weapons by Previous Offenders, and Theft
- Had the stolen handgun in his possession when he was arrested
- Jonathan Tankersley, 23 years old of Colorado Springs
- New Charges - Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of Burglary Tools, and Theft
Photographs of Hensler and Tankersley will be released on our Twitter page.