SLO County alleged rapist captured attempting to flee the country

April 1, 2022

By KAREN VELIE

A San Luis Obispo County man accused of raping a child under 10 years of age was captured attempting to flee to South America on Thursday.

On Tuesday, after receiving a report that an 11-year-old female had been molested by her stepfather Daniel Ramirez-Gutierrez, SLO County Sheriff’s detectives began an investigation into the allegations. The child disclosed that Ramirez-Gutierrez had been molesting her since the age of five.

Ramirez-Gutierrez’s wife told investigators Ramirez-Gutierrez had been forcing her to have sexual intercourse and forcing her to orally copulate him on a daily basis for the past three years.

The mother notified investigators on Wednesday that Ramirez-Gutierrez had packed up all his belonging and fled after becoming suspicious of an investigation.

Ramirez-Gutierrez was scheduled to depart Thursday on a one-way flight to South America from Los Angeles International Airport. Sheriff’s detectives and Homeland Security special agents captured Ramirez-Gutierrez at the airport before he was able to get on his flight.

“I am proud of the great work by our detectives which took a dangerous and predatory criminal off the streets,” Sheriff Ian Parkinson said. “I am grateful for the close cooperation we had with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations to bring this case to a successful conclusion.”

Deputies booked Ramirez-Gutierrez in the SLO County Jail on Friday on multiple charges including lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 by force, continuous sexual abuse of a child, sexual intercourse or sodomy with a victim under 10-years-old, rape by force/fear, and rape by threat of retaliation.