Warrant issued for alleged TdA gang member accused of assaulting Aurora apartment manager

AURORA | Yoendry Vilchez Medina-Jose, accused of assaulting a property manager at a northwest Aurora apartment complex, failed to appear at an Arapahoe County court arraignment for a Dec. 6 arraignment. 

Medina-Jose, 33, is accused of attacking a property manager at Whispering Pines Condominiums, 1357 Helena St., on Nov. 14, 2023. He is also accused of threatening another resident on the same day.

Shortly after Medina-Jose’s last court appearance on Oct. 23, he was released from an Arapahoe County jail in lieu of $25,000 bond on Oct. 28.

He did not appear for a hearing in court on Dec. 6 for arraignment. His bond was raised to $50,000 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Medina-Jose is confirmed to be a member of the Venezuela gang Tren de Aragua and is at large, according to Aurora police and prosecutors. 

CBZ Management, the owner of Whispering Pines, has stated on social media and in city documents that the assault is linked to gang activity at their properties. In an X (formerly Twitter) post, CBZ claimed their representative was assaulted after refusing a $500 bribe from a group of men occupying a recently vacated apartment. The post included a photo of  property manager Zev Baumgarten,, showing him bloodied after the alleged attack, which CBZ described as part of broader issues with gang-related crime at their complexes.

Although Baumgarten told police he was assaulted by Medina-Jose on Nov. 14, 2023, which police reports show was documented, the affidavit for the arrest warrant was not dated until July 10. Days before that, on July 3, CBZ Management’s lawyer, Walter “Bud” Slatkin, sent emails to city officials claiming the three complexes owned by the management company were all “infested” with criminal gangs. 

Police and city officials have repeatedly disputed that account. Police say there has for years been criminal activity in the CBZ buildings, but that Tren de Aragua incidents have been limited. 

In an email between Slatkin and Aurora city attorney Pete Schulte, Slatkin claimed that a previous property manager the company hired to run the complexes turned out to be a member of the Tren de Aragua gang, speculating that the gang member’s presence at the properties was facilitated by the previous property manager. 

Police and city leaders, including Mayor Mike Coffman, have repeatedly attributed ongoing problems at CBZ’s properties to pervasive mismanagement rather than pervasive Tren de Aragua gang activity. Coffman has publicly referred to CBZ as “slumlords,” while city officials maintain that allegations of Venezuelan gangs, such as Tren de Aragua, overrunning the properties are unfounded. 

Councilperson Danielle Jurinsky, however, has consistently sided with CBZ, insisting that police and city officials have conspired to conceal the gravity of the Tren de Aragua activity at the CBZ properties, but she has offered no evidence to support her allegations.

CBZ’s legal representatives from Perkins Coie stated in a letter to Aurora Police that the assault on Baumgarten was captured on video and submitted to investigators. They described the incident as a violent attack involving gang members that sent the property manager to the hospital.

Medina-Jose was arrested Aug. 5 by the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant stemming from November 2023 incidents. He faces felony menacing charges after being accused of threatening another resident and third-degree assault charges linked to the attack on Baumgarten. Aurora Police announced Sept. 11 that Medina-Jose had been identified as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang.