Mecca carjacking suspect pleads guilty, sentenced to 6 years in prison
A 31-year-old man who forced a motorist at gunpoint to lead sheriff's deputies on a high-speed chase in Mecca in 2020 was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to felony charges.
Gutberto Antonio Rodriguez was charged with one felony count each of to kidnapping, kidnapping during the commission of a carjacking, assault with a semi-automatic weapon and criminal threats, according to court records. He also faced several weapons-related sentence-enhancing allegations.
He pleaded guilty to all charges and admitted to the allegations Wednesday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, according to court records. He was immediately sentenced to six years in state prison.
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, 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 eluded a search, Davis said.
On Sept. 3, 2020, deputies located him in the 101000 block of Sea Breeze Drive in North Shore, where he was taken into custody without incident, the sheriff's department reported.
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 also pleaded guilty in a separate case Wednesday to one felony count each of assault with a gun and shooting at a dwelling as well as a misdemeanor count of exhibiting a firearm not in self defense, according to court records.
