Aurora Police are asking the public for help identifying and locating five suspects accused of running up 139 known shoplifting incidents worth more than $60,000 in stolen merchandise across the city. The suspects include a 46-year-old Denver woman police say has been arrested 16 times since 2007, and a 23-year-old Aurora man with no prior contacts with the department before his current warrant.
According to the Aurora Police Department, the five suspects are Christina Lynn Zamarron, 46, of Denver; Christina Diane Rico, 51, of Aurora; Demonte Rodgers-Jenkins, 23, of Aurora; Christopher Mondragon, 31, of Aurora; and Manuel Castanuela, 34, of Aurora. Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said the crimes affect employees, customers and the entire community, and described the suspects as having committed organized and deliberate acts as prolific repeat offenders, according to Sentinel Colorado. Chamberlain also said the suspects have established patterns of offending despite previous arrests and convictions.
A Fencing Operation Built On Shopping Lists
Investigators allege Zamarron operated a retail fencing scheme in which she took shopping lists from buyers, stole the requested merchandise from stores, then resold the stolen goods at a discount for profit, the outlet reports. She is a suspect in 48 shoplifting incidents dating back to October 2022, tied to more than $16,000 in stolen merchandise, and police have arrested her 16 times since 2007. She was arrested again on August 15 for theft and larceny before being released from custody, and she also carries active Greenwood Village warrants for shoplifting and an Arapahoe County warrant for possession of narcotics equipment. Zamarron targeted beauty supply, home improvement, clothing, grocery and home goods stores, and has misdemeanor and felony convictions dating back to 2021 for theft, narcotics possession and assault.
Rico is suspected in 35 shoplifting incidents since June 2024 involving $7,556 in stolen merchandise, and she currently has five active Aurora Police warrants covering theft charges, second-degree burglary and false reporting to police. She has been arrested seven times since 2014, was convicted of obstructing an Aurora police officer in 2014, and escaped from parole in 2017. Rico targeted book, clothing and beauty supply stores.
From No Record To A Felony Charge
Rodgers-Jenkins presents the starkest contrast among the group: he had no prior contacts with Aurora police and no prior convictions in Colorado before being tied to 16 shoplifting incidents since December 2025 involving $23,401 in stolen merchandise, the highest dollar figure among the five suspects. He is now charged with theft of $5,000 to $20,000 and attempted theft of $2,000 to $5,000, and remains wanted on an active Aurora Police warrant. He targeted big-box stores.
Mondragon, 31, has an active warrant for theft of $5,000 to $20,000 and is a suspect in 15 shoplifting incidents this year involving $7,507 in stolen goods. He has been arrested twice since the start of 2025 and has two prior convictions for obstructing Aurora police officers. He targeted clothing and home improvement stores. Castanuela, 34, is a suspect in 25 shoplifting incidents dating to October 2024 involving $8,638 in stolen merchandise, faces three active Aurora Police warrants for theft and obstruction charges, has been arrested seven times since 2021, and has two prior convictions for theft and narcotics possession. He targeted clothing, home improvement and grocery stores.
Aurora Police detectives say they are seeking information about the suspects, their locations, and any additional criminal activity connected to them, and the investigations remain active and ongoing. Tips can be submitted anonymously to Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720.913.STOP (7867), and tipsters could be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000.
Aurora's Tougher Shoplifting Laws Face New Scrutiny
The case lands amid an ongoing local debate over how aggressively Aurora should punish repeat retail theft. In March 2024, the Aurora City Council lowered the city's retail theft threshold for mandatory jail time from $300 to $100, requiring a mandatory minimum of three days in jail for a first offense, 90 days for a second conviction, and 180 days for three or more convictions, according to CBS Colorado. The council had originally enacted mandatory three-day minimum jail terms for shoplifting over $300 back in 2022 before expanding the rules two years later. That same month, the council also passed an ordinance establishing a mandatory minimum three-day jail sentence for dine-and-dash theft involving $15 or more at restaurants, after local restaurant owners testified that unpaid meals were costing individual businesses upwards of $1,500 a month.
Under state law, theft only becomes a felony once the value of stolen goods reaches $2,000, though prosecutors are permitted to aggregate multiple thefts committed within six months to reach that threshold, per Bacharach Law. Colorado's $2,000 felony theft threshold is among the highest in the nation. Legal advocacy groups, including the ACLU of Colorado, warned Aurora officials in early 2024 that the city's mandatory jail sentences for repeat misdemeanor shoplifters could face constitutional challenges, since state law caps jail terms for petty theft under $1,000 at 120 days, according to Davis Vanguard. Two Colorado Supreme Court rulings in late 2025 addressed municipal authority over jail sentences exceeding state limits for misdemeanor offenses.
Whether Aurora's strict penalties are actually curbing shoplifting is itself disputed. An analysis of Colorado Department of Justice records in late 2025 found that shoplifting rates across Metro Denver municipalities followed similar statistical trends regardless of whether individual cities imposed harsher municipal jail sentences, Sentinel Colorado reported. Opponents of mandatory minimums argued that broader economic factors and store security practices play a larger role in shoplifting rates than local sentencing laws. Meanwhile, Aurora's own 2024 Crime Report showed reported shoplifting incidents rose 22.7% that year even as overall property crime declined citywide, a trend Hoodline covered in its report on a suspected $13K shoplifter — with police attributing part of that rise to improved reporting mechanisms and direct loss-prevention partnerships with local businesses.
The political landscape around these penalties has also shifted. Following the November 2025 municipal elections, a new progressive majority took control of the Aurora City Council in December, reopening debate over whether to modify or repeal the mandatory minimum jail sentences, according to Colorado Politics. Three conservative councilmembers who had sponsored the strict shoplifting ordinances were voted out during that election cycle. Chief Chamberlain, who took over the department in September 2024 after appointment by the city manager and confirmation by the city council, has made public safety and business protection key priorities; he previously spent 34 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, including as a commander, before serving as police chief for the Los Angeles Unified School District, per CBS News. Officers have previously run dedicated retail theft details at high-volume locations such as the Target store on Ellsworth Avenue, working directly with store loss-prevention teams, and have noted that shoplifters are frequently found to be wanted on active warrants for other offenses.
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