A suspected member of the violent Venezuelan gang that has ignited a firestorm of controversy amid rumors it’s overtaken an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, is incarcerated in a Cheyenne jail.
Other than that, Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak said he hasn’t seen any of the reported Tren de Aragua gang terror in the Cheyenne area. While he hasn’t seen the gang’s members taking over apartment complexes or other buildings here, as they’re accused of doing in Aurora, Kozak said he’s concerned about the reports.
“Usually, things wind up this way eventually,” said Kozak, referring to Denver-area crime.
Kozak said he has reached out to the Aurora Police Department and other officials to gain clarity on what is happening there in light of an informational disconnect. The law firm an apartment system hired to investigate the situation insists the gang took over the apartment complex, while the Aurora Police Department denies it happened.
Neither the city’s mayor nor police department responded by publication time to Cowboy State Daily’s requests for comment.
CBS News Colorado and other outlets in recent days obtained a Denver law firm’s investigation summary insisting that gang members have threatened to kill and have tried to kill management personnel of the Whispering Pines apartment system in Aurora.
Gang members stabbed another resident for refusing to pay “rent,” a property manager quoted in the report also alleges.
In response, Aurora Police Department Interim Chief Heather Morris told the public that police “are actively investigating criminal activity and listening to (the community).”
But Morris denied that the Venezuelan gang has taken over the Whispering Pines apartment complex.
“I'm not saying there are no gang members living in this community,” she said. “But what we're learning is that gang members have not taken over this complex.”
Some Preparations
Kozak voiced concern that the Aurora Police Department “wasn’t really saying much” when he pressed for more information on local gang activity.
Officers in the area sometimes voice their frustrations to him with Denver’s “sanctuary city” policies and reported crime influxes, he added. He declined to connect Cowboy State Daily with those officers.
But in preparation for criminal factors trickling north, Kozak on Thursday changed his office’s policy to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 48 hours to pick up any undocumented inmates on the brink of being released from the local jail.
The old policy only gave ICE two hours to pick up undocumented inmates being released, said Kozak.
He said he wants to give the federal agency more time to pick up undocumented offenders so they can’t vanish when released after their cases are adjudicated.
Suspected Gang Member
In the Laramie County Detention Center, a suspected Tren de Aragua member is now incarcerated, Kozak said.
That inmate is Elizando Gonzalez Perez, 23, who is charged with felony theft on claims he stole a silver 2005 Toyota Highlander from the Colorado Springs area from another Hispanic man.
If convicted, Perez faces up to 10 years in prison. His trial is set for Nov. 25.
Gang affiliation is of concern to Laramie County jail personnel because they try to keep gang rivals separated, Kozak said. They identified Gonzalez Perez’s suspected Tren de Aragua affiliation based on three clues:
• Graffiti Gonzalez Perez made in his cell.
• Tattoos on his body.
• Admissions he made.
“There’s criteria we use to try to identify gang members,” said Kozak. “If you have at least two of the criteria we can categorize them as a suspected gang member.”
Gonzalez Perez’s attorney did not respond to a Friday voicemail request for comment.
A Spike
The Laramie County Detention Center currently houses five undocumented people, said the sheriff.
The jail housed seven Thursday. ICE picked one up, and one went to the New Mexico Department of Corrections with his ICE hold still intact, he added.
“We usually average about two at a time,” Kozak said. “(This) is a spike.”
The sheriff blamed the spike on a “failed open-border policy that has allowed thousands of undocumented persons — some criminals — to enter our country. And Denver accepting them, as a sanctuary city.”
Throwing Down Again
This is not the first time Kozak has critiqued Denver-area police policy.
The Wyoming sheriff bought a billboard ad in the metropolis in May, advertising Wyoming as a place where frustrated Colorado cops could come to work, and where police are “funded” and “breaking the law is STILL ILLEGAL.”
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston bristled at the billboard, calling a mischaracterization of a small budget cut to the police department which he said would pose “no impact to the department’s public services.”
Around that time, Johnston told the media that diverting city money into programs to help “newcomers,” or migrants, is about authorizing more of them to get jobs, and also services.
“This is going to better serve the migrants that come into the city,” he said, adding that businesses wanting to hire migrants are frustrated at delays or lack in their work authorization.
“This helps resolve that by getting people access to work, protecting city budgets and making sure we can get newcomers access to services,” said Johnston at the time.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
