Three Venezuelan nationals have been sentenced to 20 years each in federal prison for kidnapping and torturing a Denver man in a ransom scheme directed by leaders of the Tren de Aragua gang, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced Monday.
Darwin Veliz-Gonzalez, Jefferson Balza-Delfin and Yender Enrique Campos-Malave were convicted in connection with the attack on a man who had been renting a room in their Denver home. Prosecutors said the roommates turned on him after discovering that he and his father had worked as police officers in Venezuela.
According to prosecutors, the men tied the victim up with rope and held him for days without food and with very little water. They filmed themselves strangling him with a rope until he nearly lost consciousness, repeatedly submerging his head in a bucket of water for 30 seconds or more, threatening him with a gun and pistol-whipping him.
The captors sent the recordings to the victim’s wife to demand ransom from his family in Venezuela, and also shared the footage with international Tren de Aragua leaders they consulted during the ordeal, prosecutors said. When the family did not pay, one gang leader suggested cutting off one of the victim’s fingers to increase the pressure.
The victim overheard his captors discussing that plan before Balza-Delfin used pliers to sever his right pinky finger — an act prosecutors said was also filmed.
A Welfare Check, Then an Escape
Denver police went to the home on South Hazel Court on Oct. 16, 2024, after receiving a welfare call reporting that someone had been kidnapped there. Officers conducted a limited visual search but did not find anyone in distress, because the victim, who was still inside, was too frightened to reveal himself, prosecutors said.
After police left, three of the men fled the residence, giving the victim a chance to escape. He walked into a Denver police station the next morning, reported the kidnapping and assault, and showed officers his missing finger.
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