DENVER — Federal prosecutors say three Venezuelan nationals connected to Tren de Aragua have been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for kidnapping, torturing, and severing the finger of a Venezuelan man with a pair of pliers at a home in Denver in 2024.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado, four defendants kidnapped and tortured the man after learning that he and his father had been police officers in Venezuela. Prosecutors said two of the defendants were roommates with the victim.
During a news conference on Monday, attorneys detailed the abuse that happened in October 2024. Federal prosecutors said the group of men tied the victim up with rope and held him without food and very little water for several days. Authorities said the four defendants filmed themselves torturing the victim by strangling him with a rope until he nearly lost consciousness, repeatedly holding his head in a bucket of water for 30 seconds or more, threatening him with a firearm, and pistol whipping him.
Attorneys said the defendants sent the videos of the torture to the victim's wife, who was in Venezuela, and demanded $30,000 in ransom. Prosecutors said the men had video calls with international leadership of the Tren de Aragua gang, with whom they also consulted about the kidnapping.
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When the family did not pay the ransom, attorneys said one of the men used a pair of pliers sever the victim's pinky, an act that was also filmed. On Oct. 16, 2024, attorneys said the Denver Police Department received a welfare call at the home on South Hazel Court in Denver. Prosecutors said officers responded to the home but did not find anyone in distress. Attorneys said after police were gone, three of the men left the home and the victim escaped and went to a police station.
"These people are carrying out crimes for Tren de Aragua here in our state," said United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly. "These types of crimes have no place in Denver and no place in Colorado no matter who's committing them."
Darwin Veliz-Gonzalez, Jefferson Balza-Delfin, and Yender Enrique Campos-Malave all pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping, according to plea agreements, which is a lesser offense than the allegations in the indictment. The three men received a 20-year federal prison sentence while a fourth defendant will be sentenced at a later date, according to prosecutors.
During the press conference on Monday, McNeilly said a federal grand jury also indicted well-known Colombian-based leader of TdA, Brawins Dominique Suarez Villegas, also known as "Chino San Vicente," for his role in the October 2024 kidnapping and torture. Attorneys said the four defendants consulted with Vicente during the kidnapping. Prosecutors said Vicente is also charged with a RICO conspiracy, alleging he conducted activity for TdA including robbery, extortion, kidnapping, money laundering, and controlled substance offenses from 2024 to 2025.
Attorneys said the four defendants were also in communication with the global head of TdA, known as Niño Guerrero, during the kidnapping. Guerrero was killed in a U.S. military airstrike in Venezuela in June.
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