The Aurora Police Department recently announced it had identified 10 men with alleged connections to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang.
It was one of the first times that local police connected specific people to the gang, which has been at the center of the national debate over immigration in recent weeks. The details revealed in local court records shed light on who the men are, what they're accused of doing — and how the alleged presence of the gang may affect life at several Aurora apartment complexes.
The men face allegations related to domestic violence, threats and assault. In one case, a man was accused of assaulting a building owner.
A local landlord, CBZ Management, has said that gang members have seized control of several of its buildings, ejected management and started shaking people down for rent. Those allegations are largely not addressed in the arrest documents, though police say they have heard complaints of rent theft at the CBZ buildings.
Aurora and Denver officials note that the gang’s presence is small, especially compared to domestic street gangs. Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said the focus should be on crime and safety, not immigration status.
“This is not an immigration issue. It's a crime issue,” Chamberlain said at a press conference on Friday, adding that immigration issues are for the federal government. “Our focus is ensuring that we have a safe community where anybody — documented, undocumented can live, can thrive.”
Researchers have repeatedly found that immigrants, whether or not they are documented, don't commit crimes at higher rates. City officials have repeatedly denied that the gang controls any building or part of the city, as have many residents of the affected buildings.
Assaults and violence at CBZ properties
Several of the people identified by police were charged with crimes at CBZ properties, including the Whispering Pines and Edge at Lowry apartment buildings. The following reporting was sourced from arrest affidavits that Denverite obtained from courts in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder and Jefferson counties.
In November 2023, 25-year-old Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirinos — also known as “Galleta” — was accused of assaulting a resident at Fitzsimons Apartments.
The victim was diagnosed with a broken nose and a traumatic brain injury. The victim’s wife was afraid to tell police who had attacked her husband, but confided in the apartment’s custodian. Witnesses said the assault happened when a fight broke out at a party in the courtyard.
Multiple witnesses and apartment residents were interviewed by Aurora police, including an apartment manager. The manager told police that Pacheco-Chirinos was a tenant at the apartment complex and was placed there by a nonprofit organization. Pacheco-Chirinos was arrested in March 2024 by Aurora police on a first-degree assault warrant out of Adams District Court.
In Jan. 2024, Luis Miguel Calzadilla-Rojas was arrested for allegedly shooting a man in the leg outside of Whispering Pines Apartments. The victim had no prior relationship with Calzadilla-Rojas, according to an arrest affidavit. The suspect, who was accompanied by three other men, allegedly chased the victim before shooting him. The victim told police he thought he was targeted because he was a Black man.
In March 2024, Juan Carlos Mejia-Espana was arrested on domestic violence related charges, including kidnapping, assault and child abuse at Whispering Pines.
In April 2024, Carlos Aranguren-Mayora was arrested on charges related to another CBZ property, the Edge at Lowry. He faces multiple domestic violence charges after allegedly threatening a woman with a gun, chasing her out of her apartment and smashing her car window.
A month later, in May 2024, Aranguren-Mayora was arrested after allegedly entering the apartment of two people when they were asleep, threatening them with a gun, and burglarizing their home. One of the victims also is allegedly a TdA member, Roiberth Daniel Mora-Marquez.
According to a victim statement, Aranguren-Mayora told the couple to “get out” of their apartment in Spanish. Aranguren-Mayora then let five other men into the unit and said that “they run this [expletive].”
In July 2024, Larry Medina was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill a custodian and for alleged burglary at Whispering Pines Apartments. The custodian called Aurora police after she witnessed Medina attempting to break into an apartment. When she confronted Medina, he pointed a gun at her and threatened to shoot.
On July 28, Aurora police were dispatched to Fitzsimons Apartments for a shooting. Callers told police that multiple people had been shot and one person had been stabbed. One resident was shot in his living room and another broke his legs after jumping out of his fourth-floor to flee armed men.
The Fitzsimons Apartments were shut down by the city in August.
Jhonnarty Dejesus Pacheco-Chirnos — the brother of Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirinos — was arrested the following day in connection with the shooting. According to arrest records, Pacheco-Chirnos lived in the complex with his parents, brother and children.
In Aug. 2024, Yoendry Vilchez Medina-Jose was arrested on a warrant that stemmed from an earlier assault. Medina-Jose had allegedly assaulted Zev Baumgarten, who is part of the group of companies that own and manage the buildings in question. The assault was reported at Whispering Pines. Further details weren’t immediately available.
Later in August, a video captured six men armed with pistols and a rifle, forcing their way into apartments in The Edge at Lowry. On Sept. 12, police filed arrest warrants for the three men on felony charges of first-degree burglary and menacing with a firearm. But police say they haven’t confirmed if the men are connected to any gang.
Crimes in other places
Men with alleged Tren de Aragua connections were charged with crimes around the Denver metro.
In June, the family-owned jewelry store Joyeria El Ruby, in Denver’s West Highland neighborhood, was robbed at gunpoint. Police said eight people were involved. Four suspects, Oswaldo Lozada-Solis, 23; Jesus Daniel Lara Del Toro, 20; Jean Franco Torres-Roman, 21; and Edwuimar Nazareth Colina-Romero, 18, were later arrested in El Paso, Texas, in connection to the Colorado crime. They are suspected of being members of the gang, police said.
In April, Roiberth Daniel Mora-Marquez was arrested for allegedly assaulting his roommate, causing bruises and a laceration. The victim said he was attacked by Mora-Marquez and three other men after he confronted them over unpaid rent, according to the police report. He suspected all of the men were gang members, he told officers.
Mora-Marquez also faced later charges including domestic violence and illegally discharging a firearm.
Meanwhile, Aranguren-Mayora also faces charges for crimes beyond CBZ properties — a total of 38 charges in five active court cases in Adams, Arapahoe, and Boulder courts. Denverite has received court documents for four of those cases, including charges of domestic violence and a theft from a Sunglass Hut in Aurora.
Another alleged Tren de Aragua connection, Jose Miguel Reyes-Perez, was arrested in February 2023 by Lakewood Police Department for motor vehicle theft and aggravated assault after allegedly pointing a rifle at a tow truck driver at a car dealership.
Aurora Police Department also listed Yorman Camilo Sangronis-Garcia as a “documented member of TdA."
Aurora police say investigations are ongoing
APD recently joined a larger task force working on Tren de Aragua issues. Chamberlain said he has offered to put officers in CBZ buildings, and he promised to keep his department’s attention on the neighborhoods around the apartments.
“Our mission is to provide a safe environment and to hold those individuals that are involved in criminal activity accountable, and most importantly, to protect this community,” he said at a recent press conference. “I am going to use every entity, every tool … I will use state, federal and local entities to ensure that we have an effective outreach and effective approach to apprehending these individuals.”
