DA to prosecute man found with alleged 'rape kit,' including maps to schools
Juan J. Guerra (courtesy Department of Homeland Security)
by Bob Campbell & Audrie Palmer
Midland Reporter-Telegram
Published: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 10:41 PM CDT
Midland County District Attorney Teresa Clingman said Tuesday she will personally prosecute a 48-year-old Big Spring petroleum engineer from Colombia arrested with two pistols, a stun gun, duct tape, gloves and plastic handties in his car outside a west Midland children’s dance academy.
Clingman plans to ask a 142nd District Court grand jury within a month to indict Juan Jose Guerra on two second-degree felony counts of “possession of criminal instruments” and bring him to trial in Judge George Gilles’ court in six months, she said.
Guerra was taken into custody at 9:15 p.m. April 28 by city police officers and off-duty U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement Senior Special Agent Tim Stone, who had reported seeing him outside Alpha Cheer & Dance and Miller’s Gymnastics in the 1600 block of Idlewild Drive.
Guerra is being held at Midland County Central Detention Center in lieu of $626,000 in bonds.
Observing rules limiting attorneys’ pre-trial comments, Clingman said only that there “is nothing in his criminal history to indicate he has any prior offenses.”
Another court official said investigators are checking into the man’s past because he had lived in Kansas, California and other states before coming to Big Spring. He said officers had ascertained that Guerra is a petroleum engineer and native of Colombia, South America.
The official said Guerra was apprehended with a list of Midland elementary schools and a map showing the routes a 14-year-old girl was taking from her home to a junior high school and the dance academy.
He said Guerra, represented by Midland attorney Wayne Frost, has also been federally charged with possession of child pornography.
Clingman had “been in communication with police since the night Mr. Guerra was arrested, and what they were able to display to me that he had in his car makes me believe a grand jury will certainly indict this case,” she said.
“Second-degree felony possession of criminal instruments is one step lower than the type of offense these instruments would be used to commit -- either aggravated kidnapping or aggravated sexual assault.”
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Reporter-Telegram, MPD Detective Bill Anderson wrote that officers located a “rape kit” or “kidnapping kit” consisting of the following: a condom, Astroglide lube, Viagra, a stun gun, duct tape, two handguns, several pairs of gloves and zip ties connected to make ‘flex cuffs.’
“Several gags made out of a sock covered with duct tape wrapped around a bungee cord with hooks that could be placed and secured around a person’s head and mouth” along with maps of Midland, local city parks and a list of addresses where children are often found were also located in the kit.
Authorities said that Guerra originally told them that he uses the items for shooting.
If convicted, he could get from two to 20 years in state prison on each count. “Agent Stone observed Mr. Guerra driving slowly past a group of children,” Clingman said.
“My hat is off to him for having the skill and presence of mind to observe the strange behavior and follow up on it. The police work in this case has been superb by both ICE and the Midland Police Department.”
Stopped in his silver 2005 Toyota Camry, which is a central piece of the investigation, Guerra was arrested on charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon, unlawful use of criminal instruments, possession and promotion of child pornography and possession of a dangerous drug, the painkiller Ketorolac.
Investigators stated in the affidavit that the Camry has a sticker of the Spanish flag on the left side of the trunk area and an American flag sticker on the right rear side of the trunk. But, when stopped, Guerra had two homemade magnets in the same color as the vehicle covering the stickers to make “his car much less distinctive.”
During an interview with authorities, Anderson wrote, Guerra said he had two computers at his Big Spring residence and admitted to using them to view pornography.
Guerra also told investigators he had been online at craigslist.com and looking to get a date with girls through advertisements of who were selling sex.
Anderson said that by looking at the tools found and through his years of experience in law enforcement, he believes the items in possession would constitute the act of abducting someone and raping them, the affidavit stated.
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