Some ICE assertions about man detained in raids misleading, inaccurate

DENVER — A Honduran man accused of reentering the United States after being deported has been singled out by federal agents as someone who possessed a gun, who had been repeatedly accused of peddling fentanyl, and who was on the lam.

Adan Desiderio Pavon-Andino, 30, is the only person to be detained who’s been identified by name after the raids Jan. 26 and Feb. 5 around the Denver metro area. Those raids ended with about 30 people taken into custody.

Court documents and other records obtained by 9NEWS Investigates show that his past is much more nuanced than portrayed in a press release issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement – and by a sworn affidavit filed in federal court.

That press release, for instance, asserted that he “is facing” a charge of “alien in possession of a firearm.” No such charge has been filed.

It also asserted that he “is facing four charges of felony possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.” A single charge of fentanyl distribution has been filed – but the other three drug charges he faces are for simple possession.

As for being “at large,” as stated in a sworn affidavit in federal court, Pavon-Andino spent nearly a year in the Arapahoe County jail after his arrest by Aurora police on suspicion that he held a woman against her will. Then he showed up for every court hearing held after he posted bail and got out.

Pavon-Andino’s history is detailed in federal court papers.

According to various court documents, Pavon-Andino was first discovered in the U.S. without proper authorization in 2013. He returned to Honduras voluntarily in that case.

Then he returned again – and in 2015 he was charged with selling heroin in two separate arrests. In a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to distributing marijuana. A judge sentenced him to 30 days in jail and 30 days of unsupervised probation.

In 2018, an immigration judge in Arizona ordered Pavon-Andino’s deportation.

Then, on June 7, 2023, Aurora police arrested Pavon-Andino after they found a woman in an apartment handcuffed, with her legs bound.

Prosecutors charged him with kidnapping, felony menacing, third-degree assault, false imprisonment, and possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute.

In the affidavit filed last week, an ICE agent wrote that he’d encountered Pavon-Andino while Aurora police were holding him after the arrest. Pavon-Andino, the affidavit said, “was in custody on charges of kidnapping, assault, felony menacing and controlled substance possession with intent to distribute.”

All but the drug charge were dismissed in May after prosecutors concluded they had little chance of obtaining a conviction in court.

In a court hearing Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy P. O’Hara noted that “in the present case, the parties agreed that the only federal offense charged is … illegal re-entry following a prior removal.”