Mystery Tren de Aragua self-IDs on Facebook
A man prosecutors ID only as "Daniel" matches Facebook page with photo in front of putative Oregon Medicaid provider
A photo posted June 13, 2024, to the Facebook page of “Daniel Qlqwa” shows the page’s owner in front of the house in Lake Oswego, Oregon operated by putative Medicaid provider Uplifting Journey.
Oregon Roundup Foundation created this article. ORF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation dedicated to covering Oregon political and government news. Media outlets are welcome to use this article for free with attribution of the author and Oregon Roundup Foundation.
A Facebook page reviewed by Oregon Roundup Foundation appears to belong to the third alleged Tren de Aragua gangster - identified by prosecutors only by his first name “Daniel” - who lived in a Lake Oswego, Oregon house managed by putative Medicaid provider Uplifting Journey when he and one of his roommates allegedly traveled to the Seattle area, kidnapped, tortured and attempted to murder a woman.
The handle of the Facebook page is “Daniel Qlqwa.” It includes a photo posted June 13, 2025, showing a young Hispanic man standing in front of the Uplifting Journey house located on Bonita Road in Lake Oswego, identifiable by its address and confirmed by previous visits to the location by Oregon Roundup Foundation.
Daniel Qlqwa’s Facebook post
Lake Oswego, Oregon house in late summer 2025, after Uplifting Journey had abandoned the property. (Photo by Jeff Eager)
King County, Washington prosecutors describe a man described only as “Daniel,” who they say lived in the Uplifting Journey house, operated in theory as a residential drug and alcohol treatment facility according to Oregon state records and neighbors, with Kevin Sanabria Ojeda and another Tren de Aragua-affiliated man prosecutors identify only as “PA” to protect his identity as a law enforcement informant.
Prosecutors allege Sanabria Ojeda and “Daniel” traveled from Lake Oswego to the Seattle area on January 21, 2025, where they abducted Maria Guadalupe Hernandez Velasquez, used a power drill on her hand to force her to give them her phone password, robbed her and shot her along Interstate 90 in the Cascade mountains, believing she was dead. Hernandez Velasquez survived, leaving a trail of blood in the snow as she sought help.
Sanabria Ojeda and another alleged Tren de Aragua member, Alexander Moises Arnaez-Guttierrez, are in custody in Washington, facing charges including attempted murder. Arnaez-Guttierrez, who lived in the Seattle area, allegedly met up with Sanabria-Ojeda and “Daniel” in Seattle for the purpose of robbing Hernandez Velasquez, whom Arnaez-Guttierrez allegedly had been surveiling for that purpose.
Federal immigration authorities say both Sanabria Ojeda and Arnaez-Guttierrez are in the U.S. illegally and have issued detainer orders for their deportation if they are released from state custody. Washington is a sanctuary state that forbids local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement efforts in some cases.
Oregon Roundup Foundation has exclusively reported Uplifting Journey received $2.3 million in Medicaid reimbursements from Oregon Health Authority between April 2024 and March 2025. Federal agents arrested Sanabria Ojeda in Illinois on January 30, 2025. “PA” later told King County law enforcement he and Sanabria Ojeda drove to Chicago to attend an “immigration appointment” and “because of the problem with the kidnapping.”
After the kidnapping, prosecutors say “Daniel” drove a white Toyota Camry with his wife, cousin and brother-in-law to an unidentified eastern Washington location, where they met up with Sanabria Ojeda and “PA,” before the group split up again, with Sanabria Ojeda and “PA” continuing on to Illinois. Prosecutors do not describe where “Daniel” went next.
The Daniel Qlqwa Facebook photo includes a white Toyota sedan with an Arizona license plate. Oregon Roundup Foundation exclusively reported an Arizona pastor under indictment for laundering $5 million from an alleged $60 million fraud ring in that state co-signed a lease with putative Medicaid provider Uplifting Journey for another residential treatment facility in Gresham, Oregon.
Operations out of the Uplifting Journey house are not the only evidence of Tren de Aragua activity in Oregon. A week ago, federal Customs and Border Patrol agents shot and injured a man and woman in downtown Portland, Oregon, after the man allegedly repeatedly rammed his truck into a CBP vehicle, drawing scathing reactions from Oregon Democrats, some of whom demanded federal immigration authorities cease operating in the state. Federal authorites and the Portland Police Bureau contend the man and woman are affiliated with a Portland-area Tren de Aragua prostitution operation.
Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang that operates internationally, is known to traffic women and drugs. Neighbors of the Lake Oswego house complained to Lake Oswego police about hearing women at the house screaming in the night and vanloads of young women being dropped off at odd hours.
The Oregon Department of Justice, which can prosecute Medicaid fraud and organized crime in the state, has declined to say whether it is investigating Uplifting Journey or the alleged associated Tren de Aragua activity.
Oregon Roundup Foundation created this article. ORF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation dedicated to covering Oregon political and government news. Media outlets are welcome to use this article for free with attribution of the author and Oregon Roundup Foundation.