Colorado city helps 85 families relocate after Tren de Aragua apartment infestation

Aurora, Colorado’s top police official announced Wednesday that efforts to cleanup various apartment complexes plagued by Venezuelan gang members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), and bad management pushed the city to help about 85 families or individuals relocate to areas where they could not be revictimized.

Aurora Police Department Chief Todd Chamberlain gave an update on the progress made across the city, including his criminal nuisance closure order that resulted in the shutdown of the Edge at Lowry.

Last month, city Judge Shawn Day ruled that the Edge at Lowry apartment complex must temporarily close due to an “immediate threat to public safety.”

Chamberlain said the complex would continue to be shut down until property management is changed or the property management company takes accountability. If the latter does not occur, the chief warned, the city will pursue legal action.

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He accused the management company of allowing a crisis to unfold at the property by using an influx of vulnerable migrant populations to maximize their profits, offering substandard living conditions while failing to provide basic safety and oversight.

“The reports confirm the residents faced severe neglect, intimidation, and in some cases, financial extortion by both the management and the criminal element that took over this location,” Chamberlain said, referring to the development’s takeover by TdA.

He explained that there were non-functioning stoves, floors with holes in them, faulty electricity, and a heater system that the chief described as “completely dysfunctional.”

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In one bedroom, he noted, there were electrical cords pulled down, creating a fire hazard for everyone at the development.

Across the street in another building, Chamberlain said, there was a room in the basement used for narcotic sales, prostitution and sex trafficking.

Chamberlain accused TdA of taking control of many parts of the complex, creating a climate of fear and lawlessness.

“The gang specifically targeted its own community, Venezuelan immigrants, through violence, intimidation, extortion and even kidnapping,” he said. “The complex became a hub for drug trafficking, home invasions, shootings and violent assaults.”

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One of the more horrific incidents to take place at the complex was a kidnapping in December, where individuals were taken into one of the “venues” and tortured, forced to turn over their money, extorted and violently mistreated.

Nine suspected members of the gang were charged in January following the violent December home invasion, kidnapping and robbery at the Edge at Lowry complex.

As cleanup efforts ensued, the chief said about $94,000 of Aurora city funds were used to help residents locate to areas where revictimization would not occur, noting that either 85 people or 85 families were relocated.

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Another $360,000 was used to make the apartment complexes habitable for those who lived there before being relocated.

Chamberlain said had it not been for immigrants living in the development who came to the U.S. for a better life, making the decision to trust the police and reaching out about the criminal activity, police may not have uncovered what was occurring on the property.

“Aurora will not allow criminal organizations, regardless of origin, to terrorize the city,” the chief said. “We are making sure that TdA does not grab a stronghold anywhere else. We are making sure that if we do start to see those same patterns of conduct, that we aggressively and proactively address those individuals, specifically based upon the victimization that they are causing and the criminal activity that they are generating.”

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The Aurora Police Department’s approach to eradicate the criminal activity comes months after Democratic Gov. Jared Polis dismissed outrage over a video showing armed members of Tren de Aragua in the apartment building as “imagination, despite significant evidence.

The video showed several armed men in an Aurora, Colorado apartment that some said at the time, had been taken over by members of Tren de Aragua,

In a statement shared to the New York Post, Polis’ spokeswoman Shelby Wieman claimed, “The Governor has already let the Mayor know that the State is ready to support the local police department with assistance from state troopers and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation if needed.

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“But, according to police intelligence this purported invasion is largely a feature of Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination,” Wieman added, referring to a city council member who said she was disappointed in the governor’s statement.

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.