A plea agreement includes a 50 year prison sentence for 46 year old Christopher Hector Gutierrez.
He pleaded guilty to possessing almost six pounds of powder cocaine that has a street value according to what a D-A spokesperson tells WTAW News is $93,000 dollars.
The spokesperson also says that is enough powder cocaine to be turned into more than 13,000 rocks of crack cocaine.
The cocaine was found during a search in September 2019, along with more than $31,495 dollars in cash that was shared between the county and DPS.
The search also led to the discovery of the names of other known drug dealers.
Gutierrez, who has been in jail since May 2023, will be returning to prison for the fourth time according to prosecutors.
At the time of his arrest, Gutierrez was on parole for drug trafficking in Houston.
News release from the Brazos County district attorney’s office:
On February 21, 2024, Christopher Gutierrez of Bryan, Texas pled guilty to the offense of Possession with Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance in an amount over 400 grams, and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Gutierrez was on parole for drug trafficking at the time of the Brazos County offense.
A multi-agency investigation into Gutierrez’s trafficking began in late 2018. By July 2019, investigators with the Bryan Police Department, the Houston Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety had established surveillance on Gutierrez.
Through the investigation, they identified an associate of Gutierrez that was acting as a “drug mule” to transport cocaine from Houston to Brazos County. On multiple occasions, investigators observed Gutierrez and the associate travel separately to various locations in Houston, load bags into the associate’s vehicle, and then return to the associate’s residence in Bryan, where the bags were unloaded.
On September 4, 2019, investigators executed search warrants at the residences of Gutierrez and the associate. During the search of the associate’s residence, investigators located over two kilograms of cocaine. In addition, the search of Gutierrez’s residence and vehicle yielded over $30,000 in cash, as well as drug ledgers bearing the names of other known drug dealers. Through their investigation, investigators established that Gutierrez was a high-lever supplier of cocaine to other drug dealers in Brazos County.
Gutierrez had previously been sentenced to prison three times. In 2000, while on probation for Possession of a Controlled Sub-stance, Gutierrez was convicted of the offense of Manufacture/Delivery of a Controlled Substance and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. After his release, Gutierrez relocated to Harris County, where in 2011 he was convicted of Continuous Violence Against the Family and sentenced to 2 years in prison. On February 13, 2014, Gutierrez was arrested in Harris County after he was caught in possession of five kilograms of cocaine and was ultimately sentenced 25 years in prison. Because of his criminal history, Gutierrez’s range of punishment was between 25 years and 99 years or life imprisonment.
Statement from Brazos County assistant district attorney Ryan Golden: “Those that profit and enrich themselves at the expense of addicts are predators and endanger our community. Such conduct cannot be tolerated in Brazos County.”