Tesla

Denver’s Tesla police vehicle was seized as part of illegal pot bust

Fred Lambert | Mar 19 2019 - 9:14 am PT

Denver’s police department became one of the first to use a Tesla vehicle as part of their fleet and now we’ve learned that they didn’t buy it for the fuel efficiency. They got it from an illegal marijuana bust.

We were the first to report that Denver PD had a Tesla vehicle back in September 2017.

After that, local news station 9news got “obsessed” with it based on their own admission and after keeping with the story almost two years later, they are now reporting that the Model S was seized as part of a police operation:

“After months of asking about it with no answers, a spokesman for Colorado’s Attorney General finally revealed to 9NEWS this month that a 2013 Tesla Model S now owned by DPD was seized as part of Operation Toker Poker, an 2017 illegal marijuana bust that ended in the arrest of more than 60 people.”

The original owner, Aaron Baca, 33, is being accused of laundering money for the illegal marijuana operation.

Baco wrote on Facebook that he regretted buying the car in cash:

“I still can’t figure out what I was thinking the day I bought a Tesla straight cash homie. Had I financed it like a normal person, I’d still have her today.”

Now it’s instead being driven around by Denver police.

We reached out to the Denver Police Department when the car was first spotted and they responded:

“We have several cars that we use for community outreach and events (vintage police cars, etc.), and the pictured Tesla will be used for that same purpose.”

While Denver PD didn’t go electric for the gas savings, many other police departments are doing it.

Fremont Police just bought a Tesla Model S to convert it into a police patrol vehicle and they expect it to save them over $30,000 in gas.

Other police departments are deploying whole fleets of them, like the Basel police force modifying a fleet of 7 Tesla Model X vehicles into electric patrol vehicles to replace diesel-powered police patrols. Here’s an interview with Fremont (Tesla’s back yard) on their Model S cruiser: