MESA COUNTY, Colo. — The Colorado Attorney General has sued a sheriff’s deputy following a state investigation that uncovered that the deputy illegally coordinated with federal immigration officials to detain a University of Utah student last month.
You might remember the body cam video we shared of a traffic stop made by the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado on June 5.
“You were driving way, way too close to that semi,” said Mesa County Sheriff’s Deputy Alexander Zwinck. “He even had to brake check you to get you off him a little bit.”
Stopped on I-70 near Fruita by Deputy Zwinck that day, Caroline Goncalves was let off with a warning.
“Alright, you’re good to go, have safe travels, okay?” Zwinck said.
But what seemed like a mundane encounter actually led to unlawful actions by that deputy, which helped federal officials detain the 19-year-old nursing student, according to Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
“This morning, our office filed a complaint against Mesa County Sheriff’s Deputy Alexander Zwinck,” Weiser said Tuesday in a press conference.
“Unbeknownst to the driver, the sheriff’s deputy took a picture of her license… uploaded it, along with other personal identifying information, to a Signal chat,” Weiser continued.
The lawsuit reads that the chat was for Western Colorado’s Drug Task Force High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (“HIDTA”) Task Force. Created in November of 2024, it included federal immigration officers, and the lawsuit claims that Zwinck stalled in his car while they put Goncalves’s personal info through several databases.
Zwinck also shared their location, then made Goncalves get into his patrol car for several minutes.
“We’re going to go over some paperwork and then I’ll get you going, okay?” Zwinck said on June 5.
The lawsuit shows Zwinck heard back from an officer that Goncalves was a Brazilian national and a visa overstay with no criminal history.
But even while knowing that background, Zwinck still asked her about it.
“Where are you from? You’ve got a little bit of an accent,” he asked Goncalves as she sat in the patrol car.
Local immigration attorney Adam Crayk says that questioning was alarming.
“A law enforcement officer that is in charge of state and local law,” said Crayk, who is a managing partner at Stowell Crayk PLLC. “That question never comes up, because it’s not relevant to the charge.”
Even after giving Goncalves a warning, Zwinck then messaged the group the specifics of her car and that she was heading eastbound. It was a matter of minutes before federal officers stopped her again. They took her into custody, and she was detained for over two weeks.
Weiser says Zwinck’s actions violated civil law in Colorado, and the lawsuit claims that law enforcement at the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office was recently reminded of their guidelines around providing information to ICE.
Specifically, it shows that their operations division chief emailed officers and “informed his Office that Colorado law narrowly restricts Mesa County Sheriff Office’s ability to enforce immigration issues, including narrowing Mesa County Sheriff’s Office’s ability to cooperate with ICE.”
“The remedies that we are focused on are primarily stopping these things from happening again,” said AG Weiser.
Crayk is watching closely to see where this case turns next.
“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen an attorney general sue one of their own law enforcement officers for collusion… This is unique,” Crayk said. “We’re in territories that have never, ever been seen before.”
Zwinck was placed on administrative leave as the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado investigated this incident. FOX 13 News reached out Tuesday for further comment, and they said they are within a week of completing their investigation and will provide a statement at that time.
You can find the full lawsuit HERE.
