Venezuelan gang infiltrated Colorado apartment complexes, Aurora official says | OutThere Colorado (2024)

A councilmember from Aurora is claiming that a Venezuelan gang has infiltrated apartment complexes in the city, effectively backing the claim from the owner of a property that Aurora shut down a few weeks ago.

The Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang— also called TDA—has control over four apartment complexes in the city, including Aspen Grove, The Edge at Lowry, and Whispering Pines, with The Edge being the “worst” location, according to Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky.

Jurinsky based her claims on information she said she received from community members, including residents in these apartments and property owners nearby.

The Edge at Lowry, located at East 12th Avenue and Dallas Street, has been the subject of more than 19 code enforcement complaints since 2019, according to Aurora officials.

Gunshots erupted near the property on Aug. 18, and a man was nearly killed, Aurora police said. It is not known whether the man was a resident of The Edge at Lowry.

That apartment complex is less than two miles away from Aspen Grove, a 98-unit complex on 1568 Nome Street, off Nome and Colfax Avenue, that city officials shut down around two weeks ago.

The third complex, Whispering Pines at 1357 Helena in Aurora, has been "noticed for several code enforcement violations," said Aurora public safety spokesperson Matt Brown.

All three locations are operated by CBZ Management. The company, which operates rental apartments in Colorado and New York, insisted that TDA's presence had precluded it from doing its work and that it feared for the safety of its staffers and residents.

“Because we care for the safety of our tenants, and other members of the community, what we will say is that the issue of Tren de Aragua taking over properties and communities in Aurora means that we are not able to be present on this property, or any of our other properties in similar situations, also being impacted by gang presence,” a CBZ Management spokesperson earlier told The Denver Gazette.

The city rejected that claim, and city officials called the landlord's assertion an "alternative narrative" to the numerous code violations and the poor condition of the building.

The city also claimed that the landlord ignored hundreds of code violations and then left the renters to fend for themselves.

"The building owners and managers made the decision to effectively abandon their paying tenants, and this is the unfortunate consequence," Aurora spokesperson Ryan Luby wrote in an email. "The risks of residents remaining in the building and being subjected to its rapidly deteriorating conditions are far too dire.

After originally pushing back on the Aurora landlord’s narrative about the Venezuelan gang, the city police they “never denied the possibility of gang activity” but that it was “immaterial” to the living conditions at the complex.

John Fabbricatore, a Republican candidate running for the 6th Congressional District and former field office director for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, also alleged that TDA is present in these apartment complexes.

He said he visited the Edge at Lowry apartments with Jurinsky on Wednesday afternoon to help move an elderly woman out for safety reasons.

Fabbricatore said a video of the shooting at the Edge at Lowry, as well as a probable cause affidavit for TDA’s supposed shot-caller for the region prove the existence of the gang in Aurora.

“The people that are saying the TDA gang isn’t in Aurora — it's ridiculous,” said Fabbricatore. “The evidence is there.”

TDA is said to have given “the green light” for gang members to attack or fire on law enforcement, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security memo to the Albuquerque Police Department.

It’s unclear whether the “green light” also includes Denver police officers.

Alethea Smock, a spokesperson for Homeland Security investigations in the Northwest Region, confirmed TDA is operating in Colorado. Officials said the gang has diverse portfolio of criminal activities that includes human trafficking, particularly immigrant women and girls, drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion and money laundering.

Denver Gazette Reporters Carol McKinley and Nico Brambila contributed to this report.