New Lenox man, a high-ranking Latin King, gets 26 years on drug charge

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Gutierrez

Updated: February 1, 2012 11:01PM

A high-ranking member of the Latin Kings street gang with a long and violent criminal past has been sentenced to 26 years in prison on a narcotics charge, Will County prosecutors said Friday.

Ruben Gutierrez, 48, of New Lenox, a former Inca of the South and Southwest Sides for the Latin Kings, pleaded guilty in June to possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to deliver, according to a news release from the Will County State’s Attorney’s office.

Gutierrez was arrested in March 2010 when New Lenox police executed a search warrant at his house and confiscated 31 grams of cocaine, the release said.

Will County Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes sentenced Gutierrez on Monday after extensive testimony was presented on his long and violent background with the Latin Kings, the release said. A gang expert from the Kankakee police testified in detail about Gutierrez’s efforts in 2000 to locate and punish fellow gang members who stole a kilo of cocaine from him, the release said.

Kankakee Police Lt. Patrick Kane testified that Gutierrez and 20 other Latin Kings hunted down that gang member, Marty Patnaude, and shot him in the head. Patnaude survived, and Gutierrez eventually was convicted of home invasion in Kankakee County.

Before his conviction, however, several members of the Kankakee Chapter of the Latin Kings blew up Patnaude’s house. Patuaude was not inside but his parents were killed in the blast, the release said. Gutierrez was not charged in connection with the bombing.

“Judge Policandriotes handed down a tough sentence that should put every drug dealer with a history of gang violence on notice,” State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in the release. “Ruben Gutierrez’s past came back to haunt him in court. ... Now this drug dealer can no longer terrorize our community.”

Sun-Times Media Wire