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Judge decides Fort Carson Army Staff Sergeant can be released from jail

Judge to decide if Fort Carson Army staff sergeant is eligible to be released from jail on Thursday
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DENVER, Colo. (KOAA) — Thursday, the Honorable Susan Prose decided on whether or not a Fort Carson staff sergeant arrested during a large-scale multi-agency operation led by the DEA could be released from jail.

In court, Judge Prose decided that 27-year-old Juan Orona-Rodriguez can be released from jail.

Orona-Rodriguez will be ordered to live in a halfway house in Colorado Springs while the remainder of his case unfolds. That's according to our Denver news partners who were in the courtroom this morning.

New details revealed in court Thursday included that Orona-Rodriguez's drug test came back positive for cocaine, despite previously telling the court there would be no evidence of drug use.

That DEA raid happened in the early morning hours on the last Sunday of April, at an underground nightclub in southeast Colorado Springs.

Watch DEA Says Raid Was The Result Of Months-Long Investigation

According to ICE, 115 people were in the country illegally. 18 of them were ICE fugitives. And, 17 active military members, including a Fort Carson staff sergeant, were at the club.

Orona-Rodriguez is facing federal drug trafficking charges. Investigators say he was a leader in the security company that was staffing the nightclub.

Nightclub raid

Crime

CO soldier blamed mother-in-law for underground nightclub

Natalie Chuck

Last week in court, an FBI agent testified that Orona-Rodriguez told investigators his mother-in-law, Virginia Thorne, was the one responsible for running the nightclub.

According to the property owners of the club, Thorne was the woman who leased the property.

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Person hospitalized after possible road rage shooting, another person detained

Police are investigating a shooting on the northeast side of Colorado Springs. It happened just before 7 p.m. on Austin Bluffs Parkway, near the North Academy Boulevard intersection.

Person hospitalized after possible road rage shooting, another person detained

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