UPPER LAKE — A 50-year-old Upper Lake man was arrested Saturday and booked on multiple felony charges related to the alleged false imprisonment and sexual assault of a 22-year-old Ukiah man. Arturo Pedro Gutierrez faces felony charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, forced oral copulation and misdemeanor brandishing of a weapon.
According to Lake County Sheriff”s Captain Jim Bauman, the victim went to Ukiah Valley Memorial Hospital on Friday for treatment of multiple injuries sustained while he was allegedly being held captive. The man was allegedly held captive at Gutierrez”s ranch on
Bridge Arbor Road in Upper Lake for about two weeks. Bauman said while being treated at the hospital, the victim gave a preliminary account of his ordeal to the Ukiah Police Department and then met with Lake County deputies in Lakeport.
“The victim reported that in late October, he had arranged to work for Gutierrez trimming marijuana at his Upper Lake ranch. At some point during the first several days of working for Gutierrez, the victim apparently broke down in a vehicle owned by Gutierrez while transporting another worker back to Ukiah,” Bauman said. “Angered about the car, Gutierrez reportedly became assaultive (sic) to the victim and when the victim tried to quit working for him, Gutierrez allegedly force him to stay on his ranch and work for the cost of the vehicle”s repairs.”
Bauman said Gutierrez took the victim”s cell phone and for about two weeks, he was allegedly forced to work on the ranch against his will.
“During that two weeks, he was reportedly beaten with an electrical cord, shot in the leg with a pellet gun, chocked with a rope and struck with a piece of firewood,” Bauman said. “He was allegedly forced to snort and smoke methamphetamine with a kitchen knife held to his throat, locked in a shed for several days, and at one point during the second week of captivity he was forced to perform oral sex on Gutierrez. After spending the last several nights of his ordeal in a tent on the property, Gutierrez took the victim back to Ukiah and threatened to kill him if he reported the events that had taken place.”
According to Bauman, around 11 p.m. Saturday deputies contacted Gutierrez at his Upper Lake home and arrested him without incident on the aforementioned charges. Bauman said the property was secured pending a search warrant and Gutierrez was booked into Lake County
Jail with an enhanced bail of $500,000.
“There were no indications of an active marijuana grow on the property however, deputies did locate about 25 gallon-sized bags of processed marijuana and about 10 garbage bags full of marijuana,”
Bauman said. “There were reportedly some medical marijuana cards found on the premises but none belonged to Gutierrez.”
Bauman said potential charges relating to the apparent marijuana processing operation are pending further investigation.
