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No contest plea entered in molestation case

By Samantha Yale/Staff Writer

A Los Alamos man pleaded no contest Monday to committing lewd or lascivious acts on two underage sisters, one of whom is disabled.

Francisco Diaz Gutierrez pleaded no contest to a count of a committing a lewd or lascivious act on a child under 14 in connection with the younger sister, and a count of a lewd or lascivious act on a 14- or 15-year-old against the older girl, said Deputy District Attorney Stephen Foley.

Gutierrez will be sentenced to three years and eight months in prison, Foley said.

Gutierrez is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 4 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria.

Police detectives testified at Gutierrez’s preliminary hearing in April that the girls, 9 and 15 years old when the hearing took place, communicated to them that Gutierrez touched them sexually and kissed them using his tongue.

The older sister suffers from cerebral palsy, said Santa Maria police Det. Michael McGehee, and counselors and teachers have said that she might also be slightly autistic.

Gutierrez, 51 at the time of his arrest in October, originally was charged with three felony counts against the older girl, including: rape of an incompetent person, lewd act upon a child, and anal and genital penetration by a foreign object.

Gutierrez also was charged with three felony counts of a forcible lewd act upon a child against the younger girl.

His attorney, Senior Deputy Public Defender Tom Allen, could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Samantha Yale can be reached at 739-2159 or syale@syvnews.com.