DENVER—As early as November 2023, armed Venezuelan gang members began terrorizing residents of an Aurora, Colorado, apartment building, according to a Denver law firm hired to investigate.
Law firm Perkins Coie’s 10-page letter to city officials details how the Tren de Aragua gang took over the Whispering Pines Apartments using threats of murder, intimidation, and beatings.
Evidence also indicates that gang members have engaged in “flagrant trespass violations,” including human trafficking, Attorney T. Markus Funk said.
Other alleged crimes included extortion, unlawful firearms possession, and sexual abuse of minors, “often targeting vulnerable Venezuelan and other immigrant populations.”
“The gang’s [motive] appears to be to unlawfully move gang members, as well as vulnerable immigrant families, into vacant units,” Funk wrote in the Aug. 9 letter to the mayor, city manager, and interim police chief.
“The gang also forces rent-paying residents out to create more open units and use the apartment for purposes of illegal activities such as prostitution.
“The gang, which operates in the open and uses firearms to patrol ‘their property,’ has intimidated staff, stabbed at least one vulnerable immigrant in the apartments because of alleged non-payment, and otherwise terrorized the community.”
The law firm represents the lender for Whispering Pines, a 54-unit apartment complex at 1357 Helena St. The average monthly rent is $1,450 to $2,000.
Funk said that Tren de Aragua has threatened or attempted to kill management staff since they began infiltrating the building around November 2023.
In one case, an apartment manager was so badly beaten that he had to go to the hospital. He later left the state in fear for his safety.
Gang activity at Whispering Pines has escalated in 2024, Funk said.
Based on interviews with tenants, around 10 gang members threatened to execute a “business plan” unless the property manager agreed to surrender vacant units.
One gang member reportedly told a housekeeper: “If he doesn’t like it, we’ll fill him with bullets.”
“The housekeeper understood the reference to be to the gang’s ‘business plan’ of extortion,” Funk wrote.
Recent video footage shows gang members moving about the building in large numbers and kicking doors open.
“This conduct’s brazen and public nature further exhibits the suspected gang members’ sense of comfort and control consistent with their taking over the property and not fearing the law enforcement or the property management,” Funk wrote.
Funk said the firm wants to meet with city officials to discuss returning the building to management control and the “helpless Whispering Pines residents, and the Aurora community.”
Aurora officials, however, have said that gang violence was “isolated” as the city seeks legal action to shut down apartment buildings with known gang activity.
‘Not a Sanctuary City’
Before the gang activity started, most residents in the quiet and picturesque suburb of Aurora were not interested in becoming a sanctuary city like Denver—still, Mayor Mike Coffman said, it made little difference to state officials. Sanctuary jurisdictions generally shield illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities, often by banning local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration agents.
Coffman said unvetted illegal immigrants have been moving into several private housing complexes in Aurora since 2023, regardless of whether the city wanted them to or not.
The influx of illegal immigrants, some of whom with unsavory ties to Tren de Aragua, appears to have been funded by state and federal taxpayer dollars distributed by local nonprofits, he said.
The task for city officials now, Coffman said, is to trace the steps and the funding that made it happen as Aurora “pays the price” with increased crime at these apartment building complexes.
“If I felt this is the new normal, I’d feel a lot worse,“ Coffman said. ”I don’t think this is the new normal. I feel we can develop strategies to combat it.”
Police records show that CBZ Management owns several multi-family apartment building complexes in Aurora—on Dallas Street and Nome Street, including Whispering Pines and Oak Ridge Apartments on Chambers Road.
On Nov. 21, 2023, officers responded to a CBZ Management apartment building on Helena Street.
Police said the man who answered the door had a gun in his hoodie pocket and was touching it with his left hand before police disarmed him.
One tenant inside another CBZ Management apartment building captured images of a masked migrant wielding an AK-47 rifle. The video has since gone viral.
‘Nobody Wanted This’
Despite the City Council’s February resolution affirming that Aurora was not a sanctuary city and that it lacked the resources to aid migrant families, the issue arose.
“Property owners are now coming out of the woodwork, saying they don’t know what to do,” said Danielle Jurinsky, co-sponsor of the council resolution with Steven Sundberg.
“I have absolutely no idea how deep this truly goes,” Jurinsky told The Epoch Times.
Colorado is one of 11 sanctuary states that have welcomed thousands of illegal immigrants.
Coffman said there have been shootings, a home invasion, and even threats against other illegal immigrants in recent months by armed gang members.
However, he believes these crimes are “isolated.”
In one incident, police arrested Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirinos, 22, a confirmed Tren de Aragua gang member from Venezuela, in connection with a July 28 shooting.
Pacheco-Chirino is currently in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I knew there were challenges” associated with the Biden administration border policies, Coffman said, “but not this.”
The city is seeking an emergency court order to clear CBZ Management apartment buildings of known gang and criminal activity.
“This will require a municipal judge to issue the order with the goal of getting these properties back under the control of the property owners,” Coffman wrote on Facebook on Aug. 30.
“I strongly believe that the best course of action is to shut these buildings down and make sure that this never happens again.”
CBZ Management said on the company’s website that it owns 11 apartment complexes in Colorado and 11 in New York.
An Aurora police department spokesperson said that Shmary Baumgarten, the owner of CBZ Management, contacted the department on many occasions looking to hire off-duty officers.
“He was told we didn’t have the staffing to provide adequate security at all his properties,” the spokesperson said.
On Aug. 13, the city shut down CBZ Management’s 98-unit apartment complex on Nome Street for code violations and placed tenants in 60 hotel rooms.
“The problems associated with Venezuelan gang activity has been isolated to properties that are all under the same out-of-state ownership whose problems with code violations and criminal activity preceded the migrant crisis,” Coffman wrote on Facebook.
The Epoch Times reached out to CBZ Management for comment.
Venezuelan Connection
City officials have confirmed that some of the illegal immigrants have ties to the notorious Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang.
“We are aware that components of TdA are operating in Aurora,” said Ryan Luby, Aurora’s deputy director of communications and marketing.
In an Aug. 28 statement, Luby said the Aurora Police Department has been gathering evidence of the connection between gang activity and crimes in the area.
However, Luby said it would be “improper at this time” for the city and police to make any “conclusory statements about specific incidents” or law enforcement strategy and operations.
Tren de Aragua is a transnational criminal organization rooted in prison gang culture at Tocoron Prison in the state of Aragua in Venezuela, according to the National Security Council.
The group’s criminal network has been spreading throughout South America and recently extended north into Central America and the United States.
The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $12 million for information leading to the arrest of three Tren de Aragua leaders.
The U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Colorado Department of Human Services didn’t respond to requests for comment from The Epoch Times about funding for illegal immigrants.
On Aug. 31, the city of Aurora issued a statement criticizing media outlets for spreading “misleading information” about the scope of the illegal immigrant gang problem in Aurora.
“Local, regional, and national media are leading the nation to believe that Aurora is wholly unsafe. That is simply not true,” the statement said.
“While these isolated situations are rightfully of great concern and warrant increased action and scrutiny, violent crime in the city is down in nearly all crime categories.”
The Aurora Police Department did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for a tour of the impacted buildings.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Johnston did not return requests for comment.
In the meantime, the city has set up a law enforcement task force to arrest Venezuelan gang members.
Councilor Sundberg said that forming the task force is a good step but questions whether it is “too little, too late.”
“If it’s not dealt with, it will grow, is what I’m told,” Sundberg told The Epoch Times. “It’s obvious the people just flowed into our city. Whether they’re good actors or bad actors, they’re not vetted.
“We can thank Denver for being a sanctuary city and boasting that they are. Therefore, it attracted migrants, many of which spilled over into our city.”
He described the situation as “unsettling” to the point where he feels apprehensive and locks his doors more often than he used to.
“It’s created a sense of fear—especially after the release of that video,” Sundberg said.
The one question waiting for an answer, Sundberg said, is how unvetted illegal immigrants obtain firearms.
“We can thank our failed federal policies at the border for this,” Sundberg said. “In the meantime, we’ve been listening to the police. They’re scared to go [into the apartments] because of the shootouts.
“It’s frustrating because of inaction,” Sundberg said. “State authorities, as far as our governor, are in denial. They’re still just flooding [migrants] across our borders. We feel helpless,” Sundberg said.
“One of my frustrations is why haven’t we acted sooner, but it takes a coordinated effort with Homeland Security.”
Jurinsky said transnational gang members are taking over apartment buildings.
“They are terrorizing other Venezuelan migrants. They are terrorizing the American people,” Jurinsky said.
“It’s been ignored. The city had downplayed this as code violations at properties. The people have been lied to. I have been lied to.
“I finally decided I’d had enough and that I was going to expose this on my own.”
Jurinsky took action by spearheading a city resolution that Aurora is not and will not become a sanctuary city.
However, she said the city has been losing by default because of the state government’s failure to act and Denver’s sanctuary status.
“They think they’re out there doing the Lord’s work or whatever they think they’re doing,” Jurinsky said. “Now, here we are. These property owners can’t get their properties back. These people are controlling these properties with guns.
“This is sheer chaos.”
On Aug. 31, Aurora police went to the Dallas Street complex to meet with tenants and provide “reassurances” that the situation is under control.
One transportation worker told The Epoch Times he’s heard about gang activity, but hasn’t encountered it yet.
“It’s the gang element—that concerns me. You don’t see it every day. It depends on where you are in the city. You see [apartment] blocks deteriorated. It’s not like I see people in the streets with weapons,” he said.
“It’s bad in some pockets. You have to be careful. You have to be situationally aware.”
Things have been quiet since the Nome Street property was closed, according to one business owner speaking with The Epoch Times.
Although he hasn’t witnessed any direct gang activity, he “heard it was happening nearby.”
For Coffman, a former U.S. House representative for Colorado, the names of the gangs are “irrelevant.”
“It’s an organized effort by criminals. They have to be dealt with irrespective of what their name is,” he said.
During the illegal immigrant surge in 2023, Coffman said Aurora took a stance and decided it would not become a sanctuary city.
“The position of the city was that we not expend our resources. We would not be a conduit for state and federal resources to support the migrants,” he said. “It’s not our problem.
“I felt if we did participate, we were really acquiescing to what is a bad immigration policy. It’s up to the federal government to resolve it.”
He said that Colorado ultimately “rolled over” the city when it declared sanctuary status in 2019.
The Common Sense Institute, a Colorado-based nonprofit, estimates that around 42,000 migrants have arrived in the Denver metropolitan area since December 2022, and the city has spent close to $71 million to help them with food, clothing, housing, and education.
Those who didn’t settle in Denver have been making their way into cities such as Aurora, Coffman said.
“We’re suffering from the ramifications of that,” he said, referring to gang activity. “I think TdA is in Colorado. They are thugs working together. To what extent, I don’t know.”
The presence of transnational gang members in Aurora has been a “terrible blow” to the city, he said, and residents are angry, disappointed, and disillusioned.
“But again, it’s about retracing the steps that got us here. I believe some things were done that precipitated this problem,” Coffman said.
“It wasn’t our problem, and yet it turned out to be our problem.”
Allan Stein is a national reporter for The Epoch Times based in Arizona.
Reprinted with Permission from The Epoch Times – By Allan Stein
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
The situation described in this article sounds like something far more than a crime situation , it sounds like a war and it should be dealt with accordingly. The Colorado National Guard should be involved in this matter. Disarm this enemy force and go after anyone who is supporting them in any manner . Colorado must be way behind the rest of this Nation when it comes to law and the enforcement of law.This is one of the strangest articles I ever read. By strange. I mean extremely difficult to understand how this enemy force can operate as it does. To the respectable,law abiding citizens of. Aurora it would seem likely that help will be on the way after this information is received by. Americans who care about defending this Country and realize that this situation is an emergency and needs to be dealt with accordingly. Time to get this enemy stopped from waging a war against the United States of America. Disarm them, deport them and as mentioned earlier go after those who support them too.As a spirit lifter the 1941 song ” We Did It Before and we can do it again ” may help . Courage, God bless America, land of the free home of the brave.
Dems are responsible for this lawlessness. The situation confirms this.
The only thing the Democrats seem to be excellent at is Lying, Cheating, Stealing and screwing the people.
how many more of these horror stories do we have to hear about before the government wises up, enforces the laws on the books and SECURES THE BORDER?
Well, shazzam! All too predictable. Brought to you, Colorado voters, because you stupidly bought into failed LIBERAL policies. “Sanctuary cities”, my eye! Had enough? Don’t EVER vote for liberal, DemocRAT, “progressive”, or “woke” candidates, for ANY elected position whether local, state, or federal!
Did you expect anything different with democrats running things? Crime always runs rampant with democrats and Illegal Aliens pour in in like a Waterfall.
I feel bad for the residents of Colorado. But refraining from criticizing is very difficult.
Remember when you go to the voting booth in the future. You’re going to be MUCH safer with political representation that isn’t interested in today’s “political correctness” and has the ability to make tough decisions that the “hacks” are afraid of.
Prayers for the Colorado population.
And we can “thank” the far left, anti-America demorat “governor” Polis who is a shill, and a dangerous shill. HE and he alone is responsible for putting Colorado Americans in danger. Add to that he is responsible for sending his rabid dogs in the Capitol on a “disarm Coloradans” crusade…as he welcomes thugs, murderers, drug dealers, rapists and who knows what else, into our once beautiful capitol and state. He also has aspirations of being “president”… lock and load. Oh, we lost our Republican state in 2010 by hook and crook. Our governor elect who our group vetted, tested and campaigned won the Governors ballot election hands down. Then a “republican” senator decided to “sign up” to run. He split the ticket and we lost the state…can’t help but believe he was paid off or threatened by the “east coast unknowns.” Our state is under siege! We need help not condemnation. Our state has also been flooded with Californians’ who after electing Newsome and seeing how he’s destroyed that state, have flooded in here no doubt to do the same to Colorado. Our Rocky Mountain High is being turned into a war zone.
P.S. send ammo!
Typical Dim Lib reasoning. Sanctuary for illegals and virtual gulags for US citizens.
I cannot believe that this has been going on since 2023 at taxpayers’ expense, and nothing has been done to remove these illegal immigrants. This is a glaring example of the Biden/Harris mismanagement (or nonmanagement) of the border crisis. The state police and National Guard should have been called in when this illegal activity first started, cleared all the illegal immigrants out, not just the known gang members, loaded them on trucks and sent them back to Venezuela and whatever other countries they came from.
Are we to believe there is no law enforcement in Colorado? Are people to take law into their own hands? If this is the new wild west they’ll have no choice. Where is the Governor? Mayor? Police chief? Nat. guard if need be. Shoot them. That is the only language they understand. They are invaders not immigrants. And Harris is on the campaign trail? Those are the results of her policies I hope she’ll be asked about it tonight haha.
So Aurora is like other Democrat cities Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, KC, NYC, St. Louis, …?
Clear result of Jared Polis’, John Hickenlooper’s, and Michael Bennet’s policies.
Ok , so where is Colorado NG to end the nonsense??!!
It is time all citizens arm themselves and take back our country. Close our borders for good and deport the democrats as well. They are definately a threat to our security.
Seems as if it’s time for the Patriots to step in and take the apartment complex, then Aurora, then Colorado and return all of them to the law-abiding, tax-paying CITIZENS of the United States of America. Let DC see it and understand that it is to be the “guide stone” for the future of this great nation.
Bleeding heart jimmy carter was outfoxed by castro. As a result we had the marielitos infesting miami. This on the other hand is deliberate. Remember that when you see dupes putting up harris signs.
No doubt the gang members will “VOTE DEMOCRAT” if they’ve gotten a driver’s license.
Call these bastards what they really are Criminal invaders not “migrants”.Shoot them down as one would any enemy invader then issue an ultimatum to every Latin American country that allows their scum to head north including Mexico.Come to the USA Legally with required documents,medical papers x-rays etc OR DO NOT COME AT ALL.Written by a legal law abiding migrant and US Citizen.My son who was born here is a former combat marine and currently a SWAT Officer.I have contributed!
I bet 95% of you voted for Biden and Harris!!! This isn’t a popularity contest it is the decision where we need to find the “businessman”. Open your eyes and mind, please.
I have lived in Aurora. I could never call it “quiet and picturesque”.
I bet this never came out in the debate because they would never want Harris or Biden to look bad they lie for the Dems but to lie about President Trump no problem so happy to do that Harris shoots her mouth off about President Trump dividing that what she and Biden and other Dems have been doing for years never seen people that Hate President Trump as they do just like all the lies to have President Trump have all there fake felonies to make him look bad win or loose my vote is for President Trump. The media is just as bad anytime something looked bad it was not there fault it was President Trump and the media said the same all are just evil.
Bring back “THE MINUTE MEN”,they were doing the job Obama and Holder were supposed to.As usual being socialist/Communist they abdicated their responsibilities,by design I might add.Oh and it was Holder who vetted Walz! Nice one Eric.
IT WOULD APPEAR THAT WE HAVE A CRIMINAL ILLEGAL EDITING COMMENTS.IF AMAC CAN’T STOMACH STRAIGHT TALK MOVE TO AARP!
PLEASE LORD SAVE AMERICA FROM THE INVADERS. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR PROTECTING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP FOR AMERICA .