Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua eyed in Denver jewelry store robbery as group expands reach across US
The violent Tren de Aragua gang, running rife across the Big Apple, is expanding its reach across the US — and is being tied to a brutal Colorado jewelry store heist in which two female staffers were pistol-whipped and threatened with death.
The Venezuelan prison gang was tied to the caught-on-camera Denver heist from June 25 when a suspect, Jean Torres Roman, 21, was arrested in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and turned over to the Denver County Sheriff’s Office last week.
Roman crossed the border illegally in 2023 — but was only identified as a member of Tren de Aragua early last month, Homeland Security sources told The Post.
Torres Roman allegedly carried out the heist along with several others who remain at large, according to Border Report.
The group allegedly entered the store pretending to be clients, before launching a brutal attack on the female store employees, according to the outlet.
Horrifying surveillance footage shows the group of men chasing after the female employees, who can be seen trying to hide in a back room before the men rip the door open and pistol-whip two women, who fall onto the floor, KDVR reported.
The gunmen also threatened one of the women, who was trying to reach for a panic button, saying they would kill her if she moved, according to the report.
Eight robbers took off with an undisclosed amount of jewelry. The value of the jewelry they took is also unknown, per Border Report.
Torres Roman was determined to be a member of the gang on July 2, per sources.
He crossed the southern border illegally last September in El Paso, Texas, per DHS sources. He was later released into the US with a future court date despite saying he had no fear of returning home.
After his latest arrest, Torres Roman was booked into a Denver jail on state charges, which include attempted first-degree murder, attempted aggravated robbery and menacing. He has a US Marshals’ hold on his case.
In June, SWAT officers allegedly took several people, including Torres Roman, into custody at a motel in El Paso. Torres Roman and others were held on immigration charges until recently, according to Border Report.
Records show Torres is being held under a $1 million bond in Colorado. He is set to appear Aug. 21 in Denver District Court.
The recent attack “spotlights a growing trend of criminal activity in Denver and other sanctuary jurisdictions,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) former Denver chief, John Fabbricatore, told The Post.
Police and Homeland Security sources across the country received an alert last week stating that the Venezuelan gang had given its members the “green light” to attack and shoot cops, mentioning threats against police in Denver.
The gang, whose name translates to “The Aragua Train,” which is a reference to the region in Venezuela it hails from, has sent its members across the southern border, where they’ve posed as asylum seekers.
Members of the gang have flocked to major metropolitan areas of the country including New York, Chicago, Miami and Denver, where they’re openly recruiting other migrant arrivals to join their money laundering, gun smuggling, theft and human trafficking operations, according to reports.
The Border Patrol only began tracking the group last year, recording the apprehensions of 70 of the gang’s members at the border, according to federal data.
The gang’s members have gotten wise to border vetting procedures and began telling younger recruits to refrain from getting the group’s tattoos to stay under the radar, sources have told The Post.
Right now, “it’s far too easy for criminals to enter the US,” a Border Patrol source told The Post.
“We have zero access to other nations’ criminal databases and with this administration’s uselessness in deterring these criminals, they will keep entering undetected,” said the source.
Federal authorities have opened more than 100 criminal investigations into the gang as its nationwide presence grows, according to NBC News.
The Biden administration last month designated Tren de Aragua as a transnational criminal organization, offering a reward of $12 million for the arrests of its leaders.
The Venezuelan migrant accused of shooting two NYPD officers on June 3, Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, 19, allegedly told cops he was recruited by the gang’s Big Apple “coordinator” to take part in its “snatch and grab” moped clan.
Castro Mata also revealed the gang’s tactic of smuggling guns into New York City migrant shelters in food delivery bags.
The gang is also allegedly tied to the January assault of two NYPD officers in Times Square.
