State and local law enforcement addresses Venezuelan gang following affiliated arrest

From Local 3 News: The TBI says one known member of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua (TDA) was arrested in Chattanooga.

Adelvis Rodriguez Carmona was arrested in a Human Trafficking Operation, and he is a known gang member of the TDA.

The TBI stumbled upon the TDA gang two years ago in middle Tennessee. People were arrested in that case, and the rest fled.

Now, the TDA has started to pop up around Tennessee again.

On November 18, four people were arrested.

Adelvis Rodriguez Carmona was the only male arrested. He is wanted for violent crimes in Chicago and New York City.

Local 3 was told by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and Chattanooga Police Department that there were no known TDA gang members in this area, Sheriff Austin Garrett explains that is because the gang is hard to track.

“They settle in places where they feel comfortable, and we are not going to let them feel comfortable here. We intend to disrupt that and ensure that they keep moving. They may be in Atlanta tonight, and the next night they may be in Hamilton County at a hotel and the next night in Kentucky,” Garrett said.

Sheriff Garrett said TDA moves around to avoid law enforcement.

TBI Director David Rausch said TDA targets areas based on demand.

“Large cities, a lot of people, lot of demand for criminal activity, lot of demand for drugs, lot of demand for prostitution, and all of that exists in our large cities,” Rausch said.

Rausch said the TDA uses women from Venezuela who have been abducted and smuggled into the U.S.

While other TDA gang members have been arrested in Knox County and Shelby County, Rausch said there are no signs the gang is based in Tennessee.

“This is not a gang that has come in and taken over is a violent respite in any of our cities to where they have come in and taken over and doing what you see in the videos that have been played. They are not doing that at this point,” Rausch said.

The TBI said there are no signs that TDA is working with local gangs either and law enforcement wants to keep it that way.

“We don't want to see that. It's always a concern regardless of what the gang is. We have seen the works of the cartels in the drug business and how they expanded their network through local gangs and then how they actually turn the table on it and come in and take control,” Rausch said.