Two men held in custody by immigration authorities fled from detention near Denver after a jail’s electrical power gave out and inadvertently their doors to freedom, officials said Wednesday.
Geilond Vido-Romero, 24, and Joel Jose Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 32, “are still at large and the search is ongoing,” the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a statement.
ICE jailers in Aurora, about 10 miles east of downtown Denver, noticed the men were gone at about 12:35 a.m. MDT on Wednesday and connected their disappearance to a power outage that happened at about 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, authorities said.
The Aurora Police Department report states that “when the power went out, the back doors of the facility opened up to the soccer field” and ICE officials believe “that both inmates escaped through the back door when the power went out.”
Police phone records showed that ICE first called local police for help at 2:32 a.m., meaning the men could have had as much as a five-hour head start.
Police said the last time the men were accounted for while in custody was at 2 p.m. “during a facility-wide count. “
Both men were last seen wearing “an orange long sleeve top, beige colored pants and black colored Crocs,” police added.
Gonzalez-Gonzalez, who is from Mexico, is 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds. He came to America through El Paso on Feb. 13, 2013, and was in the Adams County Jail in Brighton, Colorado, on a local charge on Jan. 8 when he came on ICE’s radar, officials said.
He was then arrested by ICE and has been awaiting a court date.
Vido-Romero, originally from Venezuela, is 6-foot and 185 pounds. He entered the United States on Dec 20, 2023, near Eagle Pass, Texas, before an immigration judge on Feb. 18 ordered him sent back to Venezuela, officials said.
Todd Miyazawa contributed.
