The owner of an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado, is blaming local police for the city’s recent decision to close the place, claiming law enforcement has allowed a violent Venezuelan gang, the Tren de Aragua, to take over the area. Sentinel Colorado report.
All tenants at the Aspen Grove Apartments will be forced to leave on Tuesday after the city declared the property uninhabitable.
“We can’t expect these issues to be resolved by landlords.”
The building’s owner told the Sentinel Colorado that the building was closed because Aurora police failed to curb gang activity. City officials, however, deny the owner’s claims and claim that the building’s management is facing lawsuits for numerous health and safety code violations. According to the city, those violations date back to 2019, before the TDA operated in the area.
Photos of the complex provided to news media showed an infestation of rats, mice and cockroaches. Piled up trashdangerous electrical or plumbing problems.
The city maintains that the closures are unrelated to gang activity. It alleges the owners are using a “diversionary tactic” to avoid responsibility for years of “serious, long-standing and unresolved code violations.”
The city of Aurora reportedly sent a “nuisance” letter to the owner and property manager last year, warning them it could shut down the complex, but the order specifically listed the location as a criminal nuisance after the city received more than 100 requests for service between October 2022 and September 2023.
The owner argued that these calls should be handled by law enforcement.
“We can’t expect landowners to solve these problems,” he told the Sentinel Colorado. “I’ve said to them many times, if you guys had taken this seriously eight, nine months ago, it could have been solved relatively easily.”
The owner said tenants have said they have witnessed TDA members breaking into vacant apartments, patrolling the area with rifles and even threatening residents to pay their rent.
Denver police told the news outlet they have “reason to believe” the TDA is connected to several crimes in the area.
“Suspected members of this gang often provide false identities during contact with law enforcement and typically do not admit to being gang members, making verifying gang affiliation difficult,” police noted.
Aurora police did not respond to Sentinel Colorado’s request for comment.
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