The owner of an Aurora, Colorado, apartment complex has agreed to sell the property after claiming it was taken over by Venezuelan gangsters.
Aurora officials will drop dozens of charges against the owner of the Aspen Grove apartment complex as part of the agreement, as reported by the Denver Gazette.
The Aspen Grove was shuttered in August, with about 300 people evicted, after the city identified health and safety issues including rodent infestations, sewage backups, lack of electricity and trash pileups.
Authorities had accused the landlord, Zev Baumgarten of failing to maintain the 99-unit property, located at 1568 Nome St.
The management company, on its part, has blamed the property’s condition on gangs, claiming Tren de Aragua members have scared management away and are forcing residents to pay rent to them.
The owner of an Aurora, Colorado , apartment complex has agreed to sell the property after claiming it was taken over by Venezuelan gangsters. Aurora officials will drop dozens of charges against the owner of the Aspen Grove apartment complex as part of the agreement
The Aspen Grove apartment complex is one of three properties that have been taken over by a Venezuelan gang, according to NYC-based CBZ Management. Aurora Police denies the claim
Colorado police and local officials and activists have denied their claims.
As part of the deal with Aurora officials, the owner has also agreed to pay up to $60,000 to clean up and secure the Aspen Grove.
Landlord Baumgarten has also been accused of similar violations at the Edge of Lowry Apartments at 1258 Dallas St, where viral footage showed armed men breaking into units.
A third complex, the Whispering Pines at 1357 Galena St, has also been affected by gangs, with a law firm hired by management claiming that Venezuelan gangsters have been running the building since late 2023.
All three properties are managed by Brooklyn-based CBZ Management.
The Tren de Aragua, a criminal group from Venezuela, has had a ‘stranglehold’ on the Whispering Pines Apartments in Aurora since late 2023, the law firm Perkins Coie claimed in a letter to Aurora officials.
Footage from a resident in the Aurora complex appeared to show armed men knocking on an apartment door, intensifying fears the Tren de Aragua gang was in control of the complex
The firm found that the gang has engaged in assaults, threats of murder, extortion and even child prostitution, as reported by CBS News Colorado.
The report, issued in August, says that ‘Tren de Aragua has threatened to kill (and, in certain instances, has apparently actively attempted to kill) members of Whispering Pines management.’
The gang’s activities reported escalated this year, with a housekeeper claiming in April 2024 that a two individuals ‘went into an apartment, came out with large firearms, and were coming to kill [the property manager].’
The property manager said the two individuals were gang members and arrested as they were coming to kill him.’
The manager also claimed ‘gang members allegedly stabbed a Whispering Pines resident for refusing to pay “rent” to the gang.’
He told the law firm that in June the gangsters offered to help him if he paid them 50 percent of the funds collected in rents.
A housekeeper reported that a gang member told her: ‘This is our business plan… If he [property manager] doesn’t like it, we’ll fill him with bullets.’
Four alleged Tren de Aragua members have been arrested in Aurora in connection to an attempted murder in July
In a visit to the apartments where the armed men were filmed, interim Aurora police chief Heather Morris said gang members had not taken over and weren’t collecting rent
Four alleged Tren de Aragua members have been arrested in Aurora in connection to an attempted murder in July.
ICE officials told Fox News all four are undocumented immigrants who were detained and released after crossing the Texas border.
However, Aurora police has claimed the gang has not taken over any buildings, and city officials indicate the buildings, along with two other apartment complexes, were run down because of neglect by the property manager, CBZ Management.
In a visit to the apartments where the armed men were filmed, interim Aurora police chief Heather Morris said gang members had not taken over and weren’t collecting rent. The remarks came after Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said that ‘criminal elements’ had taken over some unspecified buildings and were extorting residents.
Aurora police are seen at the complex. They say that claims that the building has being taken by a gang are false
Aurora Police agent Matthew Longshore reiterated Thursday in an email to The Associated Press that the agency has confirmed residents are not paying rent to gang members, but they found apartment managers are no longer sending representatives to the complex.
The City of Aurora is already taking legal action against Zev Baumgarten with CBZ for ‘years of neglecting properties and numerous code violations’ after another building he managed in Aurora was shut down as uninhabitable. Its residents were evicted in mid-August. Trials for Baumgarten that had been scheduled for August and September have been delayed for at least six months.
Among the nearly 1 million Venezuelan migrants who entered the U.S. in recent years were suspected gang members tied to police shootings, human trafficking and other crimes — yet there’s no evidence that the gang has set up an organizational structure in the U.S., Jeremy McDermott, the Colombia-based co-director of InSight Crime, told the AP this summer. He published a recent report on Tren de Aragua’s expansion.
Many of the immigrants from Venezuela and other Latin American countries who live in the Aurora complex say there are no gangs there, and they are being unfairly painted as criminals.
They pinned blame on New York-based CBZ Management for refusing to take care of bedbugs, rodents and constant water leaks despite monthly rent costing $1,200 or more. Residents fear they could be evicted, but the city said Wednesday there were no immediate plans to pursue that option.
‘The only criminal here is the owner of the building,’ Moises Didenot, who is from Venezuela, said Tuesday through a translator at a news conference in a dusty courtyard at the complex.
He showed reporters some mice he recently caught on sticky traps in the basement apartment he shares with his wife and 11-year-old daughter. Only two of the burners on their stove work, their ceiling fan is missing a blade and as soon as they clean their bathtub, mold quickly creeps back, he said.