Aurora Officials Can't Find "Slumlord" Involved in Venezuelan Gang Controversy

An Aurora judge granted the city even more time to try to bring Zev Baumgarten to court for code violations at his apartment buildings at 1357 Helena Street and 1218 Dallas Street, where door camera footage spurred national headlines about violent Venezuelan gangs taking over the city.

Judge Billy Stiggers, a relief judge for the Aurora Municipal Court, was hesitant on Thursday, December 5, about deciding what to do with Baumgarten's case after the property manager evaded yet another court appearance, which he first did on October 24.

"It's clear that Mr. Baumgarten is attempting to avoid service," Stiggers said. "But I have yet to see any evidence beyond a preponderance that Mr. Baumgarten is in fact the owner of these properties."

But given the long list of code violations, Stiggers admitted, "I don't think dismissal of this is proper," and opted to give Costigan and his office more time. Aurora now has until February 14 to bring Baumgarten to court, where Costigan will be able to question Baumgarten under oath about whether he's the property owner, Stiggers noted.

Although Baumgarten is registered as the owner of CBZ Management in Aurora inspection reports, in court documents and with the Better Business Bureau, Stiggers noted that nothing from the Colorado Secretary of State's Office shows that Baumgarten is the owner of the company, only that he filed the documents to establish the business in the state.

After two attempts to put a court summons in Baumgarten's hands, Costigan admitted, "We don't know that there's anything else we can do" to serve him.

"We did toss every single avenue we had to get the defendant served within the rules," he told Stiggers. The only other idea that Costigan and Stiggers suggested in court was a probable-cause warrant, or an arrest warrant as opposed to a court summons. Costigan said he plans to explore that possibility with the extra time Stiggers gave him.
According to Costigan, his office and an officer from Aurora Code Enforcement successfully served one of Baumgarten's employees a municipal court summons. Manuel Dangerfield, the Aurora Code Enforcement officer who served the summons, testified in court that the employee, David Schulman, said that he was authorized by Baumgarten to legally accept the summons on behalf of Five Dallas Partners, the company registered as the owner of the Edge of Lowry.

But Schulman's word wasn't good enough for Stiggers, who didn't see enough to issue a failure-to-appear warrant, which would bring criminal charges against Baumgarten. Nor did the judge issue an abatement of the two properties to allow the city to clear out trash and unlawful vehicles, which is what Costigan requested at the beginning of the hearing.

Dangerfield also testified about the wild goose chase he went on to find Baumgarten at his listed properties. Baumgarten's residential property is listed in Lone Tree, but when Dangerfield knocked on his unit on November 24, "we met a young lady at the door who said she didn't know who Zev was, and that she had been living there for a year."

He also went to Baumgarten's business address, at 1644 Pennsylvania Street in Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood, which turned out to be "a multi-family residence," Dangerfield said. Costigan said that the City of Aurora has also tried to serve Baumgarten by mail, even mailing a summons to Bud Slatkins, a Denver attorney who represented Baumgarten in civil cases.

Venezuelan Gang Claims, National Spotlight

In September, national media reported that the Edge of Lowry was taken over by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) after the door camera footage of resident Cindy Romero captured six armed men walking through the halls of the complex on August 18.

Aurora Police have repeatedly denied that TdA has taken control of any buildings in the city, let alone the entire city of 400,000, as some media outlets have claimed. But APD did confirm that the August 18 footage showed the men before they murdered a man outside the Edge.

All six of the men have been identified, but APD has not confirmed any ties to TdA among them. Three of them have been arrested, including two in New York City on November 27.

Costigan requested the February 14 deadline because Baumgarten is due in court on that date for code violations dating back to 2020 at 1568 Nome Street, the apartment that Baumgarten first claimed were taken over by gangs in early August.

"We know there is at least going to be an appearance of counsel," Costigan said, referring to Baumgarten's attorneys.

However, Baumgarten struck a deal with the City of Aurora in August to avoid coming to court if he successfully sells the property, a process that is underway with the help of a broker.

A lawsuit by U.S. Bank against CBZ Management for missed loan repayments also forced the company to hand Whispering Pines and the Edge of Lowry over to a third-party landlord. That court-appointed landlord, a California-based firm owned by Kevin Singer, is now offering residents at those properties cash to move out of their apartments.

In November, Attorney General Phil Weiser said he had opened an investigation into the business practices of CBZ Management.