Violent activities of Venezuelan gang appear from arrest file | Crime and justice

Before they became national news, young Venezuelan gang members in Colorado harassed each other at gunpoint, stole cars to commit other crimes and crashed wherever they could find a bed, according to arrest documents obtained by The Denver Gazette.

One particular series of crimes involving two of the 10 Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members arrested by Aurora police involved embroiling mostly twenty-something Venezuelan immigrants in what appeared to be a free-for-all war.

Documents reviewed by The Denver Gazette tell the stories.

Two weeks before a confirmed TdA gang member was arrested for assault in an argument over rent money, he was the victim of a mafia-style crime at The Edge at Lowry apartments at 1218 Dallas St. in Aurora, arrest affidavits show.

During that incident, Daniel Mora-Marquez told police he was afraid for his life, adding that if he spoke to authorities, “his family in Venezuela could be endangered.”

It wasn’t the only statement Mora-Marquez made to police that didn’t seem consistent with his actions.

He said he had not lived in the apartment at 1218 Dallas Street long and assured officers he did not know the men who broke into an apartment while he and a woman slept inside.

He and Destiny Cruz told police they were married, but court records show they had only just met.

Last Wednesday, after appearing to be on the run, Mora-Marquez was arrested on warrants from Arapahoe and Adams counties in connection with a two-month crime spree that stretched from early April to late June, police said. Aurora known.

These incidents include arrests stemming from an argument and assault over unpaid rent in the 1600 block of Lima Street in Aurora on April 4.

That home is just steps from the Aspen Grove apartments, which were the scene of other TdA activities before the complex was evacuated and closed by the city in August.

Once arrested, he posted $20,000 bail but failed to show up for his court hearing. After a second arrest warrant was issued, Mora-Marquez shot six bullets into the home in the 400 block of Nile Street on June 29, police said.

In that incident, Mora-Marquez retaliated against the homeowner for kicking him out, the homeowner told police.

He is also accused of assaulting his girlfriend while they were in their car.

No one had heard from the girlfriend or Mora-Marquez until he was arrested last Wednesday.

A confused plot

While Mora-Marquez was wanted for the Lima Street crime, he and Destiny Cruz became victims themselves, according to documents.

On May 18, a man — later identified by Aurora police as a member of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang — broke into the couple’s second-floor apartment at The Edge at Lowry, according to arrest records.

The document showed that the intruder, Carlos Gabriel Aranguren-Mayora, was a neighbor. Mora-Marquez told police he lived on the first floor of an adjacent building on The Edge’s property.

Cruz told police the suspect pointed a silver semi-automatic handgun at the couple and was joined at the front door by five to six other men.

While at gunpoint, Cruz said she heard Aranguren-Mayora’s comment: “they’re walking s–,” according to the affidavit.

The intruders walked Cruz and Mora-Marquez at gunpoint to Cruz’s black Toyota Camry, threatened to shoot them and asked in Spanish, “Do you want to die?” the order was.

The couple then handed over the keys to the car, fled and eventually found an Aurora police officer and identified Aranguren-Mayora, the warrant added.

During their investigation, police learned he had a bond on a separate case out of Adams County.

Aranguren-Mayora, who was later arrested for the home invasion, faces one count of theft of an item valued at $5-$20,000, two counts of second-degree burglary and four counts of criminal threatening.

Aranguren-Mayora, 23, has a hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon and Mora-Marquez’s next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on Oct. 30. Both cases are being prosecuted out of Arapahoe County.

Aurora Police Department spokesman Joe Moylan would not say whether more arrests of known TdA gang members would follow, but he noted that the department would continue to release information about confirmed TdA members once they have been “thoroughly vetted and verified.”

No history, no trace

A preliminary report on Mora-Marquez reveals virtually nothing about him other than his crimes. There is no information about a job, address, relatives, driver’s license or education. Only his crimes, which extended into Adams County, and his date of birth are listed.

His place of birth is only marked as “VZ.”

There is a violation of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from 2023.

Information about the other TdA member, Aranguren-Mayora, is even scarcer. There is no official report available for him. Any information the police would have gathered from him would have been the information he told them.

Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney John Kellner said his office “actively monitors gang-related crime,” noting that immigrant crime is difficult to prosecute with a population that often lacks a high-profile reputation.

“One of the many challenges we face is the lack of information about a suspect’s criminal history or his links to other known criminals,” he said.

Still, he knows people get frustrated “when immigrants enter our country illegally and then commit crimes in our community,” Kellner said.