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AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Police in the Denver suburb of Aurora say a Venezuela street gang with a small presence in the city has not taken over a rundown apartment complex — yet the allegation continues to gain steam among conservatives and was amplified by former President Donald Trump in a Wednesday Fox News town hall where he said Venezuelans were "taking over the whole town."
The unsubstantiated allegation gained momentum following last month's dissemination of video from a resident in the complex that showed armed men knocking on an apartment door, intensifying fears the Tren de Aragua gang was in control of the six-building complex.
However, city officials indicate the buildings, along with two other apartment complexes, were run down because of neglect by the property manager, CBZ Management.
Aurora is a diverse city that has long grappled with crime and gangs, and police said they have so far linked 10 people to Tren de Aragua and arrested six of them, including the suspects in a July attempted homicide.
But 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 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.
CBZ didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment, and phone numbers listed for the two open apartment buildings managed by CBZ in Aurora were disconnected.
After residents held a news conference to speak out against the gang claims, Coffman, a Republican and former congressman, conceded he was “not sure where the truth is in all of this.” In an interview this week with Denver7 TV station, Coffman said the narrative that all of Aurora was unsafe was not true and harmful to the economic health of the rapidly growing city of more than 400,000 people.
Coffman wasn't immediately available Thursday to speak about the situation.
Trump has sought to capitalize on concerns over immigration as he seeks a second term in November. At Wednesday night’s town hall, he repeated his call for mass deportations after overstating the gang situation in Aurora.
“Take a look at Aurora in Colorado, where Venezuelans are taking over the whole town, they’re taking over buildings, the whole town,” Trump said. “You saw it the other day they’re knocking down doors and occupying apartments of people.”
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.
Social media posts about a video purporting to show migrants taking over a school bus in San Diego and a 911 call reporting Venezuelan migrants taking over an apartment building in Chicago have also gotten attention lately. Both were unsubstantiated.
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.
Aurora officials said in an Aug. 30 social media post that they were taking the Venezuela gang's presence seriously and indicated more arrests were expected. They also said they would “continue to address the problems that the absentee, out-of-state owners of these properties have allowed to fester unchecked.”
The video helping fuel the unsubstantiated allegation showed armed men, including one holding a long gun, climbing up the stairs and knocking on an apartment door. The former residents who filmed it told KDVR-TV it was taken before a shooting at the complex on Aug. 18 in which a 25-year-old man later died.
An Aurora Police Department spokesperson, Sydney Edwards, said that police have been in possession of the video and seized evidence seen in it. She said she could not comment further about an ongoing investigation.
Aurora police have also announced a task force with local, state and federal enforcement agencies to specifically address concerns about Tren de Aragua and other criminal activity affecting migrant communities.
“We will continue to investigate, pursue and arrest those who commit crimes, and we will maintain a robust presence at these properties,” the city said in a statement Thursday.
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Hanson reported from Helena, Montana.