Teen allegedly dealt drugs with sister, U.S. court hearing reveals
One of three teenagers charged with killing five people by setting fire to their home in Green Valley Ranch this summer regularly sold drugs with the help of his sister, who also is expected to be charged in the quintuple homicide, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.
Kevin Bui, 16, who has been charged with murder in the killings, dealt drugs at the direction of his older sister, Tanya Bui, 23, Celeste Rangel, a prosecutor with the U.S. attorney’s office, said during a detention hearing for Tanya Bui, who faces federal drug and gun trafficking charges.
Tanya Bui would tell her brother who to sell to, how much people owed and where to go to make deals, Rangel said.
“She is not only working with Kevin, who is 16 years old, but she is directing him,” Rangel said.
Tanya Bui has not been charged in connection to the fatal fire, but Rangel said those charges are expected.
“The evidence is she was involved in the planning and/or after the homicide with these juveniles,” Rangel said. “She was also a suspect in a 2016 arson.”
The three teenagers — Kevin Bui, 16-year-old Gavin Seymour and a 15year-old — have been charged in connection with an Aug. 5 early morning house fire in the 5300 block of North Truckee Street that killed five members of a Senegalese family and drew international attention and horror. In the days after the arson, police released haunting surveillance camera pictures of three people wearing masks and hoodies who had been walking in the neighborhood that night.
The two 16-year-olds will be prosecuted as adults on 60 criminal counts each.
Those killed were 29year-old Djibril Diol; 23year-old Adja Diol; their 2year-old daughter, Khadija; 25-year-old Hassan Diol; and her 6-month-old daughter, Hawa Baye. Others escaped by leaping from the burning home.
Authorities have not released a motive for the attack, but during Wednesday’s federal detention hearing, prosecutors depicted Tanya Bui as a successful drug dealer who had easy access to drugs, large amounts of money and guns.
Investigators found a significant amount of fentanyl and cash in the Bui home, including 21 pills and more than $1,000 in Kevin Bui’s bedroom.
Rangel also told the judge that Tanya Bui told a potential buyer of a gun that “her brother wanted to hold on to it,” on Aug. 6 — the day after the fatal fire — which Rangel said was significant because surveillance footage from the arson appears to show one of the suspects holding a gun.
Tanya Bui presented a danger to the community and a flight risk, Rangel said, adding that Tanya Bui’s father, who runs an accounting business, is now also under investigation for “activity as it pertains to his business.” She did not elaborate. Tanya Bui’s federal public defender, Edward Harris, argued that she should be released because of her deep ties to the community, and he objected to the prosecution’s focus on the state charges she could face in the summer killings.
“Whether she will actually be charged in Denver or not, that’s speculative at this point,” he said. “Time will tell. This is the case we are dealing with today … and I would like to think it was not just a placeholder.”
Magistrate Judge Kristen Mix called Tanya Bui a “sophisticated, manipulative drug dealer” and ordered that she be kept in custody.
“For a 23-year-old to own a Tesla Model S worth $80,000 who has no reported income from legitimate employment is very strange,” Mix said. “It is also strange that you’d own a $20,000 Lexus when you have no reported income from legitimate business . ... The court has very little doubt you would be tempted to flee in light of the charges you are facing.”