Arturo Pedro Gutierrez, 50, was taken into custody over the weekend and booked for kidnapping, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, forced oral copulation and misdemeanor brandishing of a weapon, according to Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
The victim went to the Ukiah Valley Memorial Hospital last Friday night for the treatment of multiple injuries he sustained while allegedly being held captive for about two weeks at Gutierrez’s ranch on Bridge Arbor Road in Upper Lake, 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, according to Bauman.
Bauman said 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 assaulted the victim. Bauman said that when the victim tried to quit working for him, Gutierrez allegedly forced him to stay on his ranch and work for the cost of the vehicle’s repair.
Gutierrez took the victim’s cell phone and for about two weeks, he was allegedly forced to work on the ranch against his will, Bauman said. During that two weeks, the victim was allegedly beaten with an electrical cord, shot in the leg with a pellet gun, choked with a rope and struck with a piece of firewood.
Bauman said the victim 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, Bauman reported.
On Saturday night at about 11 p.m. deputies contacted Gutierrez at his Upper Lake home and arrested him without incident for the above charges. Bauman said the property was secured pending a search warrant and Gutierrez was booked at the Lake County Jail with an enhanced bail of $500,000.
Bauman said 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.
He said there were reportedly some medical marijuana cards found on the premises but none belonged to Gutierrez.
Potential charges relating to the apparent marijuana processing operation are pending further investigation, Bauman said.
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