10/10/2025
On October 8th, 2025, at about 5:30 PM Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Ryland Geske was performing routine patrol duties on Poncha Pass (Highway 285 south of Poncha Springs, CO) when he observed a white SUV stopped on the northbound shoulder next to a gray motorcycle. Deputy Geske immediately remembered earlier receiving information (dispatched to a different deputy) about a gray motorcycle with a cargo trailer attached being reported abandoned in this same general area.
As Deputy Geske approached he observed the white SUV pulling out into traffic ahead of him (southbound) and the white SUV was pulling the trailer. Deputy Geske also observed that the motorcycle was on the side of the highway without a trailer.
Deputy Geske initiated a traffic stop on the SUV and identified the driver as Denis Daniel Maqueria Alfonso, age 36 from Alamosa, CO. Maqueria Alfonso alleged that the trailer was his, it had been earlier stolen from him, but he could not provide ownership proof because the friend that had gifted it to him was now in Mexico. Through his roadside investigation Deputy Geske determined that Maqueria Alfonso had seen the motorcycle and trailer on the side of the highway and decided to steal it.
Maqueria Alfonso was taken into custody and transported to the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center where he was held on a $500.00 bond for the charge of Theft, a class 6 felony. It was later learned that the true owner of the motorcycle and trailer had parked on the side of the highway to go hiking in the backcountry with intentions of coming back to retrieve them in a few days. Maqueria Alfonso is considered innocent until/ unless proven guilty in a court of law.
“Not only was Deputy Geske in the right place at the right time but his attention to detail and memory retention is hard to match. We are lucky to have him protecting life and property for the people of Chaffee County.” -Sheriff Andy Rohrich
