And the BIGGEST PIECE OF SHIT OF THE WEEK Award goes to
- Thread starter Dana Dane
- Start date
The man accused of looting the Sonoma home of a family killed in a weekend car crash wept during a jailhouse interview Thursday, apologizing for his actions and claiming he didn't know about their deaths when he broke into their home and ransacked it early Tuesday morning.
Michael Vincent Gutierrez, 26, and his alleged accomplice, Amber Marie True, 29, entered not guilty pleas Thursday to felony charges of residential burglary, auto theft, possession of a stolen vehicle and vandalism.
But only hours before, Gutierrez admitted to the burglary and said he was shocked to learn of the family's deaths. His claims of remorse also came with another message for the family and a community mourning the loss of life and outraged by the break-in:
“I am not a monster.”
Gutierrez said he agreed to speak with a reporter because he wanted to apologize publicly, especially to Molly Maloney, 19, the surviving daughter of John Maloney, who died alongside his wife, Susan Maloney and their two children, Aiden, 8, and 5-year-old Grace in a crash Saturday on Lakeville Highway.
A memorial service for the family is scheduled Friday at 2 p.m. in Sonoma at the community center, as are remembrances at the elementary school where the children attended.
But Thursday the focus was on Gutierrez and True, San Mateo County residents who are not new to crime.
Gutierrez is an ex-convict with four felonies on his record and five years in prison already served. He has a case pending in San Mateo County on possession of stolen property, unlawful possession of a firearm by an ex-convict and drug possession.
True also has pending drug possession charges.
They both stand accused of breaking into the Maloney home three nights after the family was killed driving home from the airport following a Thanksgiving vacation in Hawaii.
A Lakeport teenager who slammed into their minivan, Steven Culbertson, 19, died the next morning of injuries he sustained in the collision.
The CHP is continuing its investigation into the crash that was publicized in news accounts throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. It was widely speculated that whoever looted the Maloneys' house was merely capitalizing on the tragedy.
But Gutierrez said he did not know the house he burglarized was home to the Maloney family until a Sonoma County sheriff's detective told him during questioning Tuesday night that the family he'd targeted was killed in the crash.
He said someone had told him the house would be empty. Thursday he refused to discuss who gave him that information.
Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett and sheriff's Lt. Chris Spallino, who heads the department's investigations unit, declined to comment on Gutierrez's account of his interview with Detective Tony King on Tuesday or his claims that someone else steered him to the Maloney home.
In a wide-ranging, 40-minute interview at the jail, the heavily tattooed Gutierrez touched on his family's early drug use, his own early turn to crime, and his love for his daughters and his family.
He returned repeatedly to two main themes: his remorse for his actions and his desire to get off drugs and live a productive life.
“I just apologize from the bottom of my heart. I'm so sorry,” he said, putting his face down on his folded arms and crying for several seconds.
He freely admitted his own participation in the burglary but would not directly implicate True. When asked if it was someone other than she who accompanied him to the Maloneys he said it was not.
Asked again to confirm it was True who was with him, he said, “You'll have to ask her.”
True's only public comment Thursday was her not guilty plea in court, where she appeared together with Gutierrez.
He was last arrested in October, suspected of having a stolen computer, methamphetamine and a gun. He said he has only dabbled in crime since his last parole from prison in July 2008.
During that time, he said he tried to go straight and had initiated his own enrollment in a residential drug treatment program. He admitted he failed the program and again began using drugs.
He returned to his former girlfriend, the mother of his nearly 3-year-old daughter, and she gave birth to twin girls four months ago. But they are again apart. The girls' grandmother said in a phone interview Wednesday that Gutierrez last came by to see the girls on Thanksgiving day.
Four days later he said he was inside the Maloney's Freyer Creek Drive home. He said he spent less than an hour in the home. When asked why he searched the rooms of the children, he had little explanation:
“I don't know what I thought. I don't think I was thinking. If I had been thinking, I wouldn't have done it. I just apologize from the bottom of my heart. I am so sorry,” he said.
The burglary case broke open Tuesday afternoon when San Mateo Police officers pulled over True and discovered she was driving with a suspended license.
True, stopped in a 7-Eleven parking lot, allegedly had a credit card belonging to Susan Maloney, as well as jewelry in her pocket and a Blu-ray disc player in the car.
The trail led to a wooded neighborhood off Skyline Boulevard between Redwood City and Half Moon Bay, where the Maloneys' stolen Nissan 350Z sports car was discovered parked in the driveway.
Gutierrez was arrested around 9:40 p.m. when he came out of the house and attempted to back out of the driveway.
Gutierrez faces 11 years and eight months in prison if convicted, in addition to three years from the pending case in San Mateo County.
True faces up to eight years and eight months in prison if convicted in the Sonoma burglary, in addition to her exposure in the San Mateo drug possession case.
Their potential prison terms include enhancements for commission of a crime while out on bail.
The two remained in Sonoma County jail Thursday on $500,000 bail each and are scheduled to appear again in court next week.
Gutierrez said he was being held in isolation and has no contact with other inmates. He said he did not know if it was for his own safety or because he was deemed a risk to others. He said he dropped out of a gang last year, which could have bearing on his jail housing.
Jail commander and Assistant Sheriff Linda Suvoy would not comment, saying such information was confidential.
The pair will remain behind bars Friday while the memorial service is held in Sonoma.
“It stirs me a whole lot that I would stoop that low,” Gutierrez said. “To me that is low. You can't go lower than that.”
Michael Vincent Gutierrez, 26, and his alleged accomplice, Amber Marie True, 29, entered not guilty pleas Thursday to felony charges of residential burglary, auto theft, possession of a stolen vehicle and vandalism.
But only hours before, Gutierrez admitted to the burglary and said he was shocked to learn of the family's deaths. His claims of remorse also came with another message for the family and a community mourning the loss of life and outraged by the break-in:
“I am not a monster.”
Gutierrez said he agreed to speak with a reporter because he wanted to apologize publicly, especially to Molly Maloney, 19, the surviving daughter of John Maloney, who died alongside his wife, Susan Maloney and their two children, Aiden, 8, and 5-year-old Grace in a crash Saturday on Lakeville Highway.
A memorial service for the family is scheduled Friday at 2 p.m. in Sonoma at the community center, as are remembrances at the elementary school where the children attended.
But Thursday the focus was on Gutierrez and True, San Mateo County residents who are not new to crime.
Gutierrez is an ex-convict with four felonies on his record and five years in prison already served. He has a case pending in San Mateo County on possession of stolen property, unlawful possession of a firearm by an ex-convict and drug possession.
True also has pending drug possession charges.
They both stand accused of breaking into the Maloney home three nights after the family was killed driving home from the airport following a Thanksgiving vacation in Hawaii.
A Lakeport teenager who slammed into their minivan, Steven Culbertson, 19, died the next morning of injuries he sustained in the collision.
The CHP is continuing its investigation into the crash that was publicized in news accounts throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. It was widely speculated that whoever looted the Maloneys' house was merely capitalizing on the tragedy.
But Gutierrez said he did not know the house he burglarized was home to the Maloney family until a Sonoma County sheriff's detective told him during questioning Tuesday night that the family he'd targeted was killed in the crash.
He said someone had told him the house would be empty. Thursday he refused to discuss who gave him that information.
Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett and sheriff's Lt. Chris Spallino, who heads the department's investigations unit, declined to comment on Gutierrez's account of his interview with Detective Tony King on Tuesday or his claims that someone else steered him to the Maloney home.
In a wide-ranging, 40-minute interview at the jail, the heavily tattooed Gutierrez touched on his family's early drug use, his own early turn to crime, and his love for his daughters and his family.
He returned repeatedly to two main themes: his remorse for his actions and his desire to get off drugs and live a productive life.
“I just apologize from the bottom of my heart. I'm so sorry,” he said, putting his face down on his folded arms and crying for several seconds.
He freely admitted his own participation in the burglary but would not directly implicate True. When asked if it was someone other than she who accompanied him to the Maloneys he said it was not.
Asked again to confirm it was True who was with him, he said, “You'll have to ask her.”
True's only public comment Thursday was her not guilty plea in court, where she appeared together with Gutierrez.
He was last arrested in October, suspected of having a stolen computer, methamphetamine and a gun. He said he has only dabbled in crime since his last parole from prison in July 2008.
During that time, he said he tried to go straight and had initiated his own enrollment in a residential drug treatment program. He admitted he failed the program and again began using drugs.
He returned to his former girlfriend, the mother of his nearly 3-year-old daughter, and she gave birth to twin girls four months ago. But they are again apart. The girls' grandmother said in a phone interview Wednesday that Gutierrez last came by to see the girls on Thanksgiving day.
Four days later he said he was inside the Maloney's Freyer Creek Drive home. He said he spent less than an hour in the home. When asked why he searched the rooms of the children, he had little explanation:
“I don't know what I thought. I don't think I was thinking. If I had been thinking, I wouldn't have done it. I just apologize from the bottom of my heart. I am so sorry,” he said.
The burglary case broke open Tuesday afternoon when San Mateo Police officers pulled over True and discovered she was driving with a suspended license.
True, stopped in a 7-Eleven parking lot, allegedly had a credit card belonging to Susan Maloney, as well as jewelry in her pocket and a Blu-ray disc player in the car.
The trail led to a wooded neighborhood off Skyline Boulevard between Redwood City and Half Moon Bay, where the Maloneys' stolen Nissan 350Z sports car was discovered parked in the driveway.
Gutierrez was arrested around 9:40 p.m. when he came out of the house and attempted to back out of the driveway.
Gutierrez faces 11 years and eight months in prison if convicted, in addition to three years from the pending case in San Mateo County.
True faces up to eight years and eight months in prison if convicted in the Sonoma burglary, in addition to her exposure in the San Mateo drug possession case.
Their potential prison terms include enhancements for commission of a crime while out on bail.
The two remained in Sonoma County jail Thursday on $500,000 bail each and are scheduled to appear again in court next week.
Gutierrez said he was being held in isolation and has no contact with other inmates. He said he did not know if it was for his own safety or because he was deemed a risk to others. He said he dropped out of a gang last year, which could have bearing on his jail housing.
Jail commander and Assistant Sheriff Linda Suvoy would not comment, saying such information was confidential.
The pair will remain behind bars Friday while the memorial service is held in Sonoma.
“It stirs me a whole lot that I would stoop that low,” Gutierrez said. “To me that is low. You can't go lower than that.”
