When a Cheyenne police officer called 16-year-old Javion Defer on Aug. 12 looking for a stolen black firearm, he had to think about it.
“Which black gun?” Defer asked.
“Was there multiple? We need to find these guns,” Detective Caresa Marino responded.
On Tuesday, Cheyenne police said an investigation resulted in five search warrants around the city, and four juvenile suspects taken into custody.
Court records available Thursday show Defer is being prosecuted through the adult criminal court system.
Bronco Disappears
The investigation began on the morning of Aug. 11, when Cheyenne police got a call about a dark green 2025 Ford Bronco that had vanished from outside a home on Valley View Lane.
A GPS device inside the Bronco was still broadcasting its location near Monroe Avenue, where Marino found it parked near an alley.
The affidavit says the Bronco's owners had exterior cameras that watched nearly the whole thing happen.
Shortly before 3:30 a.m., a white Toyota rolled up and a male in black shorts and a dark hooded jacket walked toward the Bronco.
He opened the unlocked driver's door and started rummaging through the vehicle, appearing to stuff something into his hoodie.
At the same time, a second person allegedly tried his luck with an unlocked Toyota Prius in the driveway, climbing inside, digging through the center console and pocketing some cash.
The person at the Bronco walked away, but about two minutes later, he came back.
The camera caught the lights in the Bronco flash on, and 13 seconds later, it was gone.
A pair of Apple AirPods was missing from the Bronco, and when police pinged them, they led investigators to Defer's home about two blocks from where they found the vehicle.
Officers arrived around 9:50 a.m. Several juveniles were inside and no adults were home, the affidavit says.
Defer initially denied knowing anything about a stolen Bronco or vehicle burglaries but eventually began to explain what happened. The affidavit says he blamed another person for stealing the Bronco.
‘All Right’
Police returned to Defer's home that afternoon.
By then, investigators had spoken with other people allegedly involved and reviewed the surveillance footage closely.
One detail stood out.
The person seen entering the Bronco was wearing shorts, and police had information indicating Defer was the only person in the group wearing shorts that night.
Marino told Defer she believed the person captured on camera stealing the Bronco was him.
Defer sat silently with a “blank stare,” the affidavit says.
“Where is the key fob?” Marino asked.
“I don't know,” he responded.
Then, the affidavit says, Defer looked at the ground, took a deep breath and said:
“All right.”
His story changed.
'I'll Take It Then'
Defer admitted he had already been driving a stolen vehicle when the group set out on the night of Aug. 10.
Days earlier, he and another juvenile had been checking vehicle door handles around an apartment complex near East Pershing Boulevard when they discovered an unlocked white Toyota with its keys inside.
They decided to steal it, Defer allegedly told police.
He kept both keys in his bedroom and parked the Toyota near his neighborhood, walking to it whenever he wanted to drive it.
On Aug. 10, Defer said he used the stolen Toyota to pick up four other people — three juveniles and an 18-year-old.
One of the others later told police that Defer announced he wanted to “go car hopping,” which he understood to mean burglarizing vehicles.
Another juvenile described people trying door handles throughout neighborhoods looking for unlocked cars and items to steal.
Eventually they reached Valley View Lane.
Defer allegedly told investigators he found the Bronco unlocked, climbed inside and searched its compartments.
The 18-year-old told investigators Defer tossed him the keys and asked:
“Twin, you wanna take that?”
When he refused, Defer allegedly replied:
“I'll take it then.”
'Found it'
After being confronted by investigators, Defer helped police find the white Toyota.
He also admitted taking a wallet and pink bag from it after stealing the car, the affidavit says. Officers recovered the bag but not the wallet.
Then Defer took police inside his home.
From his bedroom, he retrieved the keys to both stolen vehicles. One set was hidden in a dresser drawer and the other in a suitcase.
The next morning, police learned a firearm was stolen during another vehicle burglary.
As an officer approached the house, the affidavit says, one of Defer's guardians came out the front door yelling:
“Found it.”
She was holding a purple, gray and black revolver in one hand and five bullets in the other.
She told police she found the gun in Defer's bedroom, in the same dresser where the stolen vehicle keys were hidden.
Defer admitted stealing it from an unlocked yellow Volkswagen Beetle in his neighborhood.
But it wasn't the black gun police were originally looking for.
How Many Guns?
Once police started asking about guns, Defer began describing an assortment of others that had been making their way through the group.
He told investigators another person had stolen two guns, including an AR-15 and what Defer described as a Glock. He pointed officers toward a home on McGovern Avenue where he thought some of the weapons might have ended up, but that lead went nowhere.
Police found no stolen firearms there, a homeowner accounted for his own guns and another person associated with the home denied having anything to do with the burglaries.
Then there was another gun — a smaller black pistol Defer said a juvenile had stolen Aug. 11.
At that point, police weren't dealing with one stolen revolver anymore. They were trying to figure out how many guns were missing, who had taken them and where they had gone.
About a week later, Detective Timothy Campolong started pulling out other Cheyenne police reports and found cases that sounded similar to what Defer had been describing.
Two 9mm handguns — a Geisler Defence 19X and an SCCY CPX2 — disappeared from vehicles around Aug. 7. Campolong noted that the Geisler is a Glock-style handgun, potentially matching the “Glock” Defer had mentioned.
An Anderson AR-15 vanished from a vehicle on Atlantic Drive sometime between Aug. 7 and Aug. 13. Defer had allegedly told investigators not only that someone in the group stole an AR-15, but that the rifle came from Atlantic Drive and was taken the same day as the Glock-style pistol.
The details were beginning to line up.
Five Warrants
By Aug. 25, the investigation had grown well beyond the stolen Bronco that first brought police to Defer's door.
Investigators said they had followed leads and identified “numerous individuals” believed to have been involved.
Because several suspects were school-age juveniles and some searches were near schools, CPD said officers planned the operation so warrants could be served while students weren't in class.
Four juvenile suspects were taken into custody.
Police have not publicly identified those juveniles, and it is not clear from the information released whether Defer was among the four.
Campolong signed the probable-cause affidavit against Defer that same day.
Court records show the 16-year-old was wanted for aggravated burglary, burglary, grand theft, accessory after the fact and conspiracy.
A preliminary hearing has been set for Sep. 2 before Judge Sean Chambers.
The series of vehicle burglaries — and the effort to account for the property and guns allegedly taken from them — remains under investigation.
Cheyenne Police Department spokeswoman Alex Farkas was out of the office Thursday and unavailable to provide additional information.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
