PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) U.S. Marshals arrested two men in Portland on federal charges. The pair stand accused of trafficking humans, guns, and drugs as part of a Venezuelan gang.
As first reported by the Oregonian, Johan Carlos Mujica Urpin, 27, and Jose David Valencia De La Rosa, 27, were indicted in a federal racketeering case in the Southern District of New York.
It’s unclear how long the men resided in Portland, but federal court documents accuse Mujica Urpin and Valencia De La Rosa of committing crimes as part of the Anti-Tren gang (an offshoot of the Tren de Aragua) between 2022 and 2025.
“A transnational criminal gang that has terrorized people in their own country and here in America,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference April 22.
Mayor Adams, NYPD leaders, and federal immigration officials announced the indictment of 27 alleged Venezuelan gang members one week before Mujica Urpin and Valencia De La Rosa faced a federal judge in Portland Monday.
“This investigation uncovered, and the indictments unsealed yesterday described a widespread violent network responsible for multiple shootings, home invasions, carjackings and sex trafficking,” Said New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. “They targeted vulnerable women from Venezuela, forcing them into sex work and threatening to kill their families if they didn’t comply.”
“These are depraved criminals trafficking in people, in guns, in drugs and in fear and with absolutely no regard for human life,” Tisch added.
The indictment claims Mujica Urpin, Valencia De La Rosa and more than half a dozen others, “were members and associates of the Anti-Tren Enterprise…almost exclusively comprised of former members and associates of the Venezuelan transnational criminal organization Tren de Aragua or ‘TOA.’”
The document accuses members of the New York City and New Jersey based organization of participating, “in acts involving murder and assault, sex trafficking, human smuggling, trafficking of controlled substances, firearms trafficking, and robberies.”
Both men face charges including, drug trafficking conspiracy, alien importation and harboring for immoral purpose, as well as racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking conspiracy – both charges hold a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Mujica Urpin and Valencia De La Rosa plead not guilty to the charges. KOIN 6 News reached out to Federal Public Defense Attorney Clais Daniels-Edwards, who represented both men in court; she declined to speak about the case.
According to court records, the pair will be transported by US Marshals to New York.
