New details revealed of FBI investigation, ICE raid at Idaho horse track

Court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the past week shed more light on the five suspects of an alleged illegal gambling operation in Wilder, the FBI investigation and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that followed.

Law enforcement agencies said they zeroed in on La Catedral Arena, a horse track west of Boise popular among the Latino community, after they received tips about illegal gambling, as well as reports that some “individuals would walk around ‘shaking hands’ and exchanging drugs,” a memorandum by the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers disrupted the final horse race of the season earlier this month in a raid. Five gambling suspects were arrested, while more than 100 people were detained by ICE and children were zip-tied, prompting fear in the community. Four of the five people charged with illegal gambling pleaded not guilty Tuesday.

In the newly filed memorandum, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said law enforcement believed firearms would be at the arena during their arrest through their undercover operations at previous events at the arena.

“Several of the individuals detained had large amounts of cash bundled in rubber bands, indicating their intention to illegally bet at the horse races,” the memorandum said. “Some of those individuals were cited in state court for illegally gambling.”

The Attorney’s Office said those undercover operations also determined undocumented people attended the horse track races, which regularly saw 250-500 attendees.

A grand jury charged each of the five suspects with prohibition of an illegal gambling business, according to an indictment. Samuel Bejarano Colin, of Nyssa, Oregon, and Ivan Tellez, of Wilder, were also charged with transmission of wagering information, according to the indictment.

The memorandum alleged that Bejarano Colin was the “bookmaker and administrator of the illegal gambling operation,” helped take wagers and collected the proceeds with one of the other suspects, his wife, Dayana Fajardo.

Law enforcement cites Facebook evidence

Law enforcement said Bejarano Colin made public Facebook posts about the betting, including posting brackets and confirming bets in comments. A warrant on his Facebook account also revealed evidence that Bejarano Colin took bets and discussed gambling logistics through social media, the document stated. Law enforcement said they found betting ledgers in Bejarano Colin’s backpack during his arrest.

The Attorney’s Office said his Facebook account is “riddled with evidence” of his crimes.

“While searching Facebook messages for illegal gambling, agents saw in plain view messages related to drug acquisition,” the Attorney’s Office memorandum stated. “Law enforcement learned that defendant had received drugs from a supplier in Mexico.”

Bejarano Colin’s bank account showed financial deposits, through ATMs as well as online money transfer apps Venmo, Zelle and Cash App, that totaled more than $560,000 from December 2022 to May 2025, according to the memorandum.

Law enforcement said they could not find any evidence that Bejarano Colin had ever been employed outside of the gambling operation.

Suspect is a ‘dedicated soccer mom,’ defense says

Fajardo has lived in the United States for 24 years, since she was about 15, according to defense attorney Theodore Blank’s latest filing. The 39-year-old is the mother of five children. She raised them in Nyssa, where three of her kids continue to live and participate in school sports, Blank said.

Blank pushed back on the government’s motion to detain Fajardo. Blank noted in his response motion that Fajardo had only one previous encounter with the law for driving without privileges in 2018. She is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

“The government’s efforts to paint this dedicated soccer mom as representing a serious risk of flight falls flat,” Blank said in his response motion filed Monday.

Tellez and two other suspects who face a single gambling charge – Alejandro Torres Estrada, of Buhl, Idaho, and Cesar Iniguez Orozco, of Meridian – remain out of custody. Orozco and Tellez are legal permanent residents, while the other suspects are undocumented, according to their criminal complaints.

Bejarano Colin will remain in custody after he waived his detention hearing. His lawyer, Thomas Monaghan, told the court that he faces immigration detention after ICE had placed a hold on him.

The four suspects are scheduled to be on trial Dec. 15.