Five officers disciplined in traffic stop that led to Caroline Dias-Goncalves ICE arrest, sheriff apologizes

MESA COUNTY, Colorado (ABC4) — The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has completed their administrative review of the traffic stop that led to the ICE arrest of University of Utah student Caroline Dias-Goncalves, and five officers were disciplined as a result.

Related video: Colorado Attorney General sues Mesa Co. deputy for illegally sharing info with ICE

Caroline Dias-Goncalves was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on June 4, after a routine traffic stop while she was traveling through Colorado. Information was shared with a group chat that contained Homeland Security Investigations and ICE officers, going against Colorado Senate Bill 25-276.

Following Mesa County Sheriff’s Office administrative review, Deputy Alexander Zwinck, the deputy who conducted the traffic stop and then shared information with ICE officers, was placed on three weeks of unpaid administrative leave, and he will be removed from his current assignment and reassigned to patrol.

The Colorado Attorney General (AG) also recently filed a lawsuit against Zwinck for his involvement in this incident. The lawsuit against Zwinck alleges that he violated Colorado law by working with ICE officials to detain Caroline Dias Goncalves. He allegedly uploaded her personal data to a Signal group chat that included federal immigration officers, and he continued to assist in her arrest despite being told that she had no criminal history.

Four other officers were disciplined by the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office following the administrative review.

Deputy Erik Olsen was also placed on unpaid administrative leave for two weeks and will be reassigned to patrol. Sergeant Joe LeMoine was suspended without pay for two days, and Lieutenant David Holdren received a letter of reprimand that will be placed permanently in his personnel file. Captain Curtis Brammer was provided with documented counseling.

Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell released a statement alongside the administrative review’s findings, in which he stated that he takes full responsibility for this incident. He added that while Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has “well-established practices limiting our involvement in immigration enforcement,” the review highlighted the need for enhanced training.

“Based on our findings, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office should not have had any role in the chain of events leading to Miss Dias-Goncalves’s detention, and I regret that this occurred. I apologize to Miss Dias-Goncalves,” Rowell said.

Additionally, Colorado SB 25-276 was signed into law only 13 days prior to Dias-Goncalves’s stop, and Rowell said that the Sheriff’s Office needed “clarification of evolving legal responsibilities” under that law.

Rowell also addressed AG Phil Weiser’s lawsuit against Zwinck. “Our ultimate goal has been to identify potential training, supervision, and policy failures within our Agency to rectify them through thoughtful and well-informed revisions,” he said. “It is for this reason that I am deeply disappointed in Attorney General Phil Weiser’s choice to announce his lawsuit against Deputy Zwinck prior to the completion of our investigation and prior to the determination of internal discipline.”

Rowell stated that the AG’s office did not give him any notice that the lawsuit was going to be filed, and that he cooperated with the AG’s office, other than refusing to allow the AG’s office to interview deputies while the administrative review was pending.

Rowell said that he provided an unredacted download of the Signal group chat to the AG’s office, which the AG then used as evidence in the lawsuit filing. However, Rowell said that the chat also showed Colorado State Patrol Troopers sharing information with immigration officers, similar to Zwinck. The Colorado Governor also reportedly shared personal identifying information to ICE.

State law enforcement and government are prohibited from sharing personal identifying information with ICE under SB 21-131, but no lawsuits against them have been filed.

“I ask that Attorney General Weiser apply the law equally to all law enforcement and government officials instead of making Deputy Zwinck an example,” Rowell stated. He is requesting that the AG either file lawsuits against every officer or government official who has violated the laws, or dismiss the lawsuit against Zwinck.

“As it stands, the lawsuit filed by the Attorney General’s Office sends a demoralizing message to law enforcement officers across Colorado—that the law may be wielded selectively and publicly for maximum political effect rather than applied fairly and consistently,” Rowell said.

Rowell also requested that Homeland Security Investigations release the Signal chat records in their entirety.

“The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office is dedicated to learning from this experience, both via training and through feedback from our community. As such, Mesa Sheriff’s Office staff members have now received in-depth training on SB 25-276. Further training will be provided to improve comprehension and implementation of immigration-based legislative changes,” Rowell concluded.