Sergeant Roy Ditzler

He is a sergeant with the Colorado Springs Police Department; it has been 21 years.

Background

• His current duties are the drug enforcement administration task force which investigates large scale drug organizations.
• In January 2020 he was assigned to CSPD metro vice intelligence unit. He was supervisor of the intelligence unit. He was responsible for coordinating and allocating resources for undercover operations, surveillance activity, conducting investigations that involved threats to city government entities, domestic terrorism incidents, and was also on the joint terrorism FBI task force.
• Lieutenant Coke asked Ditzler to contact the EPSO; they needed resources for surveillance.
• Ditzler fixed a GPS tracker to a vehicle as part of this.
• You put them on the undercarriage of the vehicle.
• GPS trackers are various sizes; they look like a piece of thin runner that covers a magnet.
• The subject is not supposed to know they are placing a GPS device on the vehicle.
• One of the reasons to use GPS is to minimize exposure or the chance that the subject may find out that you are surveilling them; it could compromise an investigation.
• You use undercover methods to even install the tracker so they don’t spot that happening either.
• They were hoping that the GPS would lead them to Gannon’s whereabouts.
• Detectives arrived around 11:30AM; detective Reader(?) was the one responsible for an initial visual of Letecia.
• Numerous assets were requested to assist the surveillance.
• They had to set up enough takeaway units to follow people as they drove away; they were surveilling two cars. One is difficult enough.
• Around 3pm they reached downtown and it became very taxing to maintain surveillance.
• Ditzler ended up being the closest vehicle.
• He spotted Letecia and Harley get out of a silver Nissan Altima stopped at the intersection.
• The car continued through the intersection and then parked.
• Letecia and Harley walked north on Tejon.
• He was familiar with what Harley and Letecia looked like from photographs.
• On January 31st they were surveilling them in downtown Colorado.
• They were unable to maintain visual of Harley and Letecia but were able to keep an eye on the Nissan; the white van also parked nearby. They kept tracking it.
• Harley and Letecia eventually went back to the Nissan and both vehicles drove away.
• At the Extended Stay America hotel the vehicle parked in a parking spot and Ditzler received word that the GPS warrant had been signed.
• They came up with a “hasty ruse” - they pulled another car in front of the Nissan and popped the hood as if there was a mechanical issue. Ditzler crawled under the car and affixed the tracker.
• Judge Werner asks everyone to turn off their cellphones.
• An unknown female was driving the Nissan Altima.
• He laughs because he is big and the car was a low profile vehicle and he couldn’t put it where he normally would.
• There were no great options and he crawled under as far as he could and had to go by feel.