A large billboard warns drivers along southbound Interstate 25 at the Wyoming-Colorado border: “Venezuela Ahead, Be Prepared!” on a color scheme that mimics the Venezuelan flag.
This is in reference to recent reports of a Venezuelan gang named Tren de Aragua taking over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, a large suburb of Denver.
Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak said he burst out laughing when he saw the billboard for the first time.
“I laughed when I saw it because billboards are effective,” he said
Kozak bought a billboard ad of his own in Denver 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 that 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.”
As a result of his billboard, Kozak said he’s received thousands of job applications and hired 10 new deputies.
What Venezuelans?
The new billboard is referencing rumors and reports that a violent Venezuelan gang had taken over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, a suburb of Denver.
A law firm the apartment complex hired to investigate the situation insists a gang did take over the apartment complex, while the Aurora Police Department and city officials there deny it happened.
Kozak said he’s heard conflicting reports about the situation and isn’t sure what’s true.
Former President Donald Trump mentioned these claims in his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris last week. At a campaign rally Wednesday, Trump doubled down and claimed that Venezuelans are “taking over large pieces of real estate in Colorado” and that Gov. Jared Polis is “petrified” and “doesn’t want to talk about it.”
Trump also said he will soon visit Aurora, and that the entire city of 400,000 people has been taken over by Venezuelan gangs, which Mayor Mike Coffman also denies, but he welcomes a visit from Trump.
“Bring it on. Come here. I'm excited for you to come here so I could show you that the narrative that is being presented nationally about this city isn't true," Coffman told Denverite on Thursday. "That there are no apartment complexes under gang control, that the city's not under gang control, Venezuelan gang control.”
Coffman did not immediately respond to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment.
According to Colorado Public Radio, more than 40,000 new immigrants have come through the Denver metro area in recent years, many with pending asylum cases.
In 2019, the Colorado Legislature passed a law preventing law enforcement officers from arresting or detaining an individual on the basis of their immigration status.
Kozak said the billboard highlights some of the downfalls of passing these types of laws.
“It might heighten the fact that what’s going on in Colorado being a sanctuary state and Denver being a sanctuary city, there’s problems that have arisen with that,” he said.
Kozak said he’s spoken with law enforcement officers in Aurora and Denver about the growing Venezuelan gang presence in their area.
“I know the whole Venezuelan sanctuary city thing is going to cause problems,” Kozak said.
In the Laramie County Detention Center, a suspected Tren de Aragua gang member is now incarcerated but Kozak said he doesn’t anticipate the same problems occurring in Wyoming as reportedly in Denver and Colorado.
“We’re staying on top of it,” he said. “We haven’t seen anything like that pop up here and we’re not going to let it happen in Wyoming.”
A large billboard designed like the Venezuelan flag warns drivers on southbound Interstate 25 as they enter Colorado that they're entering the South American country instead of the state. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
A large billboard designed like the Venezuelan flag warns drivers on southbound Interstate 25 as they enter Colorado that they're entering the South American country instead of the state. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily)
Who Did It?
The bottom of the billboard reads, “Paid for by Clipper Properties LLC, Tim Mellon, Member.”
A Saratoga resident named Tim Mellon donated $50 million to the Trump campaign in May, the largest donation to the campaign. According to Vanity Fair, since the start of 2022, Mellon has poured in more than $125 million to Make America Great Again, the Trump-affiliated super political action committee, and $25 million to American Values 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s super PAC.
A secretive billionaire, Mellon is the heir to the Mellon banking family and also was the biggest donor to independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign, which was dropped last month along with Kennedy endorsing Trump.
A Cowboy State Daily call to a Saratoga number associated with someone named Tim Mellon was not returned.
According to BBC, Mellon has lived on a ranch in Wyoming since 2005.
Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office records show that Clipper Properties is registered to a law firm belonging to former state legislator and University of Wyoming Board of Trustees Chairman Kermit Brown.
When Cowboy State Daily contacted Brown at his office Friday, he declined to talk and communicated through his secretary that he doesn’t own any billboards. Wyoming’s opaque limited liability corporation laws allow attorneys and other third-parties to represent themselves as the registered agents for a business while cloaking the real people behind it.
Contact Leo Wolfson at leo@cowboystatedaily.com
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
