Kings County Man Charged in Operation Red Reaper Sentenced to over 21 Years in Prison for Methamphetamine Trafficking

FRESNO, Calif. — Florentino Gutierrez, 41, of Hanford, was sentenced today to 21 years and 10 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams and more of a mixture containing methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

Gutierrez was one of 21 drug traffickers charged federally as a result of Operation Red Reaper, a multi-agency investigation into the criminal activities of individuals associated with the Kings and Tulare County Nuestra Familia prison gang.

According to court documents, in April and May 2019, Gutierrez conspired with others to traffic over 2 kilograms of methamphetamine. Gutierrez’s plan included using his Cadillac Escalade as collateral to purchase the methamphetamine. His co-conspirators then traveled from Hanford to Bakersfield, where they picked up the methamphetamine. On the return trip, investigators stopped the car, searched it, and seized five bags containing a total of over 2 kilograms of methamphetamine.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Kings County Gang Task Force, the Special Operations Unit of the California Department of Justice and the California Highway Patrol; the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; the Kings County District Attorney's Office; and the Tulare County Sheriff's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin J. Gilio is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.