Mecca kidnapping suspect pleads not guilty

A 30-year-old man accused of forcing a motorist at gunpoint to lead sheriff's deputies on a high-speed chase in Mecca in 2020 again pleaded not guilty today to kidnapping and other charges.

Gutberto Antonio Rodriguez was ordered to return to court May 20 for a trial-readiness conference.  

Along with the kidnapping count, Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to criminal threats, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and kidnapping during the commission of a carjacking, along with several weapons-related sentence- enhancing allegations.  

Following a preliminary hearing at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, a Riverside County Superior Court judge on April 1 ruled there was sufficient evidence for Rodriguez to stand trial on the charges. He remains held at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta on $1 million bail.  

According to Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Steve Davis, the Aug. 18, 2020, chase started when sheriff's deputies attempted to pull over a car near Lincoln Street and 62nd Avenue in Mecca, but Rodriguez, who was a passenger in the vehicle, allegedly held the driver at gunpoint and "instructed the driver to evade deputies."  

The brief high-speed chase was terminated near Avenue 60 and Johnson Street, where Rodriguez ran off and managed to elude a search, Davis said.   

On Sept. 3, 2020, deputies located the suspect in the 101000 block of Sea Breeze Drive in North Shore, where he was taken into custody without incident, the sheriff's department reported. There was no word on how deputies tracked him to that location.  

Rodriguez also had a warrant out for his arrest stemming from separate felony charges filed Aug. 21, 2020 -- assault with a deadly weapon and shooting at an occupied vehicle, and a misdemeanor count of brandishing a weapon or firearm -- which occurred in Mecca, court papers show.  

Rodriguez was convicted of a misdemeanor hit-and-run that resulted in property damage in 2018 but has no documented felony convictions in Riverside County.