Armed Illegal Immigrants Caught Taken Over A Apartment Building In Colorado
The city of Aurora is debunking claims that an Aurora apartment building has been “taken over” by Venezuelan gangs.
While the city doesn’t dismiss that there is a possibility of gang activity and they’re looking for a connection, the building at East colfax avenue and nome street has issues of poor living conditions dating back years.
The building near the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, operated by CBZ Management, has documented issues like rodent infestations, piled up trash, missing windows, sewage backups and water leaks.
It’s at the point where the property management group hasn’t paid their water bill. Tenants have faced issues like lack of electricity and heat, according to the city.
The city says they have exhausted efforts to work with the property owners and their property management. Despite those efforts, they have failed to address “substantial, longstanding, unresolved” violations and have been uncooperative.
With the deteriorating conditions, the Aurora city manager will designate the building as “unsafe for human habitation” under the Aurora city code unless the property owners remedy every documented violation.
The Aurora Police Department said it has assigned detectives to a special task force to investigate a Venezuelan gang’s alleged connections to the city.
“We have stood up a task force specific to this group,” said APD Acting Deputy Chief Chris Juul. “We are actively looking at who they are, what they’re doing, how many are there, what is the reality of the situation compared to what the other public information that’s going on around out there nationally is.”
The gang, known as Tren de Aragua, started out as a prison gang in Venezuela and has expanded throughout the Western Hemisphere. Last month, the Biden administration designated the gang as a transnational criminal organization, accusing it of engaging in human smuggling and trafficking, gender-based violence, money laundering and illicit drug trafficking.
On the claims of gang activity, the city said in a statement: “The city and the [Aurora Police Department] are also aware of concerns at the national level that members of a Venezuelan prison gang have arrived in the United States and established organized crime cells in cities throughout the country.
“APD leadership shares in those concerns and is actively working with law enforcement agencies across the metro area to conclusively determine if there is a connection between metro criminal activity and a specific group or organization,” the city said. “In the meantime, any such specific activity is immaterial to and separate from the city’s code enforcement actions at the property and the building’s inhabitability.”
ccording to statistics provided by an Aurora city spokesman, calls for service at 1568 Nome Street have increased in recent years. In 2022, APD investigated 41 crimes at the site. In 2023, police investigated 84 crimes. As of July 31, officers have investigated 66 crimes at the property so far this year.
“Homeland Security Investigations is committed to investigating, disrupting, and dismantling transnational gangs and prioritizes work to combat emerging threats related to them. HSI is aware of recent violent crime and arrests involving individuals allegedly associated with the Tren de Aragua gang and continues to assess emerging trends and assist partner law enforcement agencies,” the spokesperson said.
The city says what has been said on social media about police officers refusing not to patrol the building is “simply not true.”
APD issued a “specified crime property determination” notice in 2023, declaring 1568 Nome a “criminal nuisance property,” which means increased patrols.
The city of Aurora has been pursuing legal action against Zev Baumgarten, the property manager of CBZ Management.
