FBI arrest Ricardo Gutierrez for Robbery

November 30, 2012 — SALT LAKE CITY— One of Salt Lake City Police Department’s Most Wanted fugitives has been arrested in Texas: Ricardo Herrera Gutierrez, who was placed on Department’s Most Wanted list after an armed robbery in July 2011.

Based on investigative leads that Gutierrez was living in the El Paso, Texas, area, the Salt Lake City Police Department, the FBI Salt Lake City Division, and members of the Safe Streets Task Force contacted the FBI El Paso Division. After careful coordination, Gutierrez was taken into federal custody on the morning of November 15, 2012. The arrest happened without incident at a business in El Paso, Texas, following an FBI SWAT operation.

Federal prosecutors charged Ricardo Herrera Gutierrez and a co-defendant, Jesus Miguel Rivera-Vega, with three counts of robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during a violent crime in a federal complaint filed July 26, 2011. Rivera-Vega pleaded guilty in January to one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence in connection with a July 15, 2011, robbery of Gonzalez Market, 1220 S. Redwood Road in Salt Lake City. Rivera-Vega admitted that he and his associate demanded money from employees in the market and then fled the store. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison for the conviction.

The U.S. Marshals will transport Gutierrez to Salt Lake City where an appearance on the complaint will be held. Each count of robbery carries a potential 20-year sentence. The firearms charge in the complaint has a mandatory minimum seven-year sentence, which would run consecutive to any sentence imposed for convictions on the robbery counts.

The investigation and subsequent arrest were the result of a collaborative effort involving the Salt Lake City Police Department, West Valley City Police Department, the FBI El Paso Division, the FBI Salt Lake City Division and the Safe Streets Task Force.

Contact: Reporters seeking comment should contact the Public Information Officer at 801.799.NEWS (6397).

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