LAS VEGAS (AP) — Daniela Larreal Chirinos, a five-time Olympic cyclist who competed for Venezuela over the course of a decade, has died. She was 51.
Larreal was found dead at home in Las Vegas the afternoon of Aug. 15 after a friend called police for a welfare check, according to a police report. The friend told officers he had not heard from Larreal for several days, which was out of character for her.
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FILE - Venezuela's Mariestela Vilera, left, and Daniela Larreal Chirinos celebrate their gold medal in a cycling women's team pursuit final, at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct. 17, 2011. Larreal Chirinos, a five-time Olympic cyclist who competed for Venezuela over the course of a decade, died on Aug. 15, 2024. She was 51. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Daniela Larreal Chirinos, a five-time Olympic cyclist who competed for Venezuela over the course of a decade, has died. She was 51.
FILE - Venezuela's Daniela Larreal Chirinos, right, reacts after winning the gold medal in the sprint cycling event at the Odesur Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Nov. 14, 2006. Larreal Chirinos, a five-time Olympic cyclist who competed for Venezuela over the course of a decade, died on Aug. 15, 2024. She was 51. (AP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia, File)
FILE - Venezuela's Mariestela Vilera, left, and Daniela Larreal Chirinos celebrate their gold medal in a cycling women's team pursuit final, at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct. 17, 2011. Larreal Chirinos, a five-time Olympic cyclist who competed for Venezuela over the course of a decade, died on Aug. 15, 2024. She was 51. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz, File)
FILE - Venezuela's Daniela Larreal celebrates her gold medal victory during the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, El Salvador on Friday, Nov. 29, 2002. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
FILE - Venezuela's Daniela Larreal Chirinos, right, reacts after winning the gold medal in the sprint event of the cycling competition of the Odesur games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006, chased by Colombia's Diana Garcia Orrego who won the silver medal. (AP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia, File)
FILE - Venezuela's Mariestela Vilera, left, and Daniela Larreal celebrate after won gold medal in a cycling women's team pursuit final at Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Monday, Oct. 17, 2011.(AP Photo/Jorge Saenz, File)
Further details weren't immediately available, but Luis Vidal, a police department spokesperson, said homicide detectives were not called to investigate. The Clark County coroner's office said it was still working to determine the cause and manner of her death.
The Venezuelan Olympic Committee confirmed Larreal's death in a statement in Spanish on the social platform X, saying it was saddened by the loss of an athlete “with an outstanding career in track cycling” and whose accomplishments at the Games “filled us with much pride.”
Larreal competed in five Olympics, beginning with 1992 in Barcelona through London 2012. She was not at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
At the time of her death, Larreal was working as a housekeeper at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, the newest casino on the Strip. In a statement, Fontainebleau described Larreal as a “beloved member” of its team.
Her death comes on the heels of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
FILE - Venezuela's Daniela Larreal Chirinos celebrates her gold medal victory during the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, El Salvador, Nov. 29, 2002. Larreal Chirinos, a five-time Olympic cyclist who competed for Venezuela over the course of a decade, died on Aug. 15, 2024. She was 51. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
FILE - Venezuela's Daniela Larreal Chirinos, right, reacts after winning the gold medal in the sprint cycling event at the Odesur Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Nov. 14, 2006. Larreal Chirinos, a five-time Olympic cyclist who competed for Venezuela over the course of a decade, died on Aug. 15, 2024. She was 51. (AP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia, File)
FILE - Venezuela's Mariestela Vilera, left, and Daniela Larreal Chirinos celebrate their gold medal in a cycling women's team pursuit final, at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct. 17, 2011. Larreal Chirinos, a five-time Olympic cyclist who competed for Venezuela over the course of a decade, died on Aug. 15, 2024. She was 51. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz, File)
FILE - Venezuela's Daniela Larreal celebrates her gold medal victory during the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, El Salvador on Friday, Nov. 29, 2002. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
FILE - Venezuela's Daniela Larreal Chirinos, right, reacts after winning the gold medal in the sprint event of the cycling competition of the Odesur games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006, chased by Colombia's Diana Garcia Orrego who won the silver medal. (AP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia, File)
FILE - Venezuela's Mariestela Vilera, left, and Daniela Larreal celebrate after won gold medal in a cycling women's team pursuit final at Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Monday, Oct. 17, 2011.(AP Photo/Jorge Saenz, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned Thursday, one week after it emerged that his phone was seized as part of a federal investigation that touched several members of Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle.
Caban, who had been in charge of the nation’s largest police department for about 15 months, said in an email to staff that he made the decision to resign after the “news around recent developments” had “created a distraction for our department.”
“I am unwilling to let my attention be on anything other than our important work, or the safety of the men and women of the NYPD,” he added in the email obtained by The Associated Press.
At a news conference Thursday, Adams praised Caban for “making our city safer” and said he had named Tom Donlon, a retired FBI official, as the interim police commissioner.
Donlon previously served as the chief of the FBI’s National Threat Center and once led the Office of Homeland Security in New York, before starting his own security firm in 2020. He helped lead the investigation into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and investigated the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings and USS Cole bombing.
Donlon said in a statement he was “honored and humbled” to head “the greatest law enforcement agency in the world,” and that his priorities would include removing illegal guns from the community.
Caban's resignation marks the first high-level departure from the Adams administration since federal investigators seized phones Sept. 4 from several members of the mayor’s inner circle, including two deputy mayors, the schools chancellor, and one of Adams’ top advisers.
The subject of the investigation, which is being led by U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, remains unclear, as does whether federal authorities were seeking information linked to one investigation or several.
Caban's lawyers, Russell Capone and Rebekah Donaleski, said in a statement Thursday they had been told by the government that “he is not a target of any investigation being conducted by the Southern District of New York, and he expects to cooperate fully with the government.”
The Justice Department defines a target of an investigation as someone whom prosecutors or a grand jury have gathered substantial evidence against that links the person to a crime. That’s in contrast to a subject, which is someone whose conduct is merely within the scope of the investigation. But those definitions are notoriously fluid and a person not seen as a technical target one day can become a target the next as new information develops.
Federal authorities are also investigating Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, a former NYPD sergeant who runs a nightclub security business, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person could not publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
James Caban “unequivocally denies any wrongdoing,” his lawyer, Sean Hecker, said in a statement. “His work – as a consultant and acting as a liaison between the Department and a private company – is perfectly legal, especially given his previous career as a NYPD officer,” Hecker continued.
James Caban was fired by the NYPD in 2001 after he was heard on a recording illegally detaining a cab driver whom he accused of stealing $100 and threatening to seize his vehicle.
According to people familiar with the matter, other officials whose devices were recently seized include First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright; Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety; his brother David Banks, the schools chancellor; and Timothy Pearson, a mayoral adviser and former high-ranking NYPD official. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
Adams, a first-term Democrat, was subpoenaed in July, eight months after federal agents seized his cell phones and an iPad while he was leaving an event in Manhattan. Federal authorities haven’t publicly accused him or any officials of any crimes, and Adams has denied any wrongdoing.
The investigation that led to Edward Caban’s devices being seized is not believed to be tied to a probe that led federal investigators to seize Adams’ devices last November, according to two people familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Caban, 57, was the first Latino to lead the 179-year-old NYPD. He started as a patrol officer in 1991 in the Bronx, where he grew up, and worked in precincts across the city as he was promoted. His father, retired Detective Juan Caban, had served with Adams, a former police captain, when they were both on the city’s transit police force. Three of Caban’s brothers were also police officers.
He was the department’s second-in-command before being named commissioner last year.
Caban replaced Keechant Sewell, the first woman to lead the force. She resigned 18 months into a tenure clouded by speculation that she was not truly in charge.
As commissioner, Caban presided over continuing declines in some major crime categories, including shootings and murders, but was also criticized for his handling of officer discipline, including two officers who did not face any internal disciplinary action in the fatal shooting of a Black man, Kawaski Trawick, inside his Bronx apartment in 2019.
Donlon's appointment marks the first time in more than two decades that someone without prior experience serving in a local police department will lead the NYPD. Close observers of the agency described the move as both politically strategic and potentially risky.
“It gives the mayor some credibility at a time when his police department and administration are facing federal investigations,” said Jeffrey Fagan, a Columbia Law School professor focused on policing. “At the same time, will someone with no experience in a complex municipal police department and no real power base be able to clean up this mess?”
Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
People walk past One Police Plaza, the headquarters of the New York City Police Department, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
FILE - Edward A. Caban, left, speaks after being sworn in as NYPD police commissioner outside New York City Police Department 40th Precinct, July 17, 2023, in New York. Mayor Eric Adams on the right. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon, File)
FILE — Edward A. Caban speaks after being sworn in as NYPD police commissioner outside New York City Police Department 40th Precinct, July 17, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon, File)