Get Food Delivered in Montana? Watch Out for Venezuelan Gangs

Do you get food delivered to your house here in Montana through popular food delivery services like Uber Eats and Door Dash? Watch out, says a former FBI Hispanic gang expert who now lives in Bozeman. This is a tactic sometimes used by the violent Venezuelan prison gang known as Tren de Aragua.

Daniel Brunner now lives in Bozeman, Montana and has a security consulting firm called the Brunner Sierra Group. He joined us on our statewide radio talk show, Montana Talks with Aaron Flint, to discuss a recent Department of Homeland Security report confirming the presence of Tren de Aragua (TdA) in Montana. TdA has spread to at least 16 states due to our wide open borders.

During the commercial break, I asked Brunner what Montanans or local law enforcement should look for to try and spot potential TdA members. He said that can be tricky because you don't want to just assume that anyone who is Hispanic is a TdA member or a drug cartel operative.

I then casually told him about how I've run into Venezuelans across the state, and of course just because someone is Venezuelan does not mean they are affiliated with TdA.

When that DHS report came out, I noted how I've done events at restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops and other locations all across the state over the past several months. I told Brunner how I got to talking with a couple food delivery drivers at a couple events, and with my basic and broken Spanish I asked them where they were from and they told me Venezuela.

Brunner then told me that that IS something to watch out for. TdA will use food delivery services as cover for action, and to conduct a recon of potential home burglary targets.

Daniel Brunner: "Be careful about your home. And what a lot of these home invasions that we're seeing is called the South American theft group, but the members of Tren de Aragua have adopted doing this. So, one of the tactics, and I'm not saying every single DoorDash driver, I'm not saying every single Uber driver is, but- one of the tactics they do is utilize members of TdA will get a job with with one of these food delivery companies. They deliver the food to your front door, and then they're getting intelligence. They're learning about your house. Do you have dogs? Do you have alarm? Do you have cameras? This gives them advanced intelligence in preparation for a home invasion. Are you elderly? Do you have children? Are there kids running around? Is it- are you going to be someone who leaves the home during the winter months? So these are the things that I advise your listeners and my clients, because I do security consulting for individuals here in Bozeman and elsewhere in Montana and actually many parts of the world."

Here's some other tips he had: If you bought your house and it's no longer for sale, remove the photos off Zillow. Remove your photos from Google Maps. "When they come in to do these home invasions, they know exactly which way to turn," says Brunner.

He gave a ton of other great insight. Listen to the full conversation with Daniel Brunner in the 2nd half of the below podcast: