A Cheyenne man who worked with a Casper man to sell large quantities of methamphetamine while carrying a gun was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, according to minutes of his sentencing in federal court on Friday.

Daniel Patrick Gutierrez heard the sentence from Wyoming U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson.

In March, a jury convicted Gutierrez on four drug-related counts.

Friday, Johnson sentenced Gutierrez to 25 years for one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, 25 years for one count of distribution of methamphetamine, and 10 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Those sentences will be served concurrently, or at the same time.

Gutierrez also sentenced Gutierrez to five years imprisonment consecutive to those 25 years for carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime.

After his release from prison, Gutierrez will be on supervised probation for 10 years, according to the judgment.

The case began in December 2020 when Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents began investigation methamphetamine use and distribution in Natrona County, according to the federal criminal complaint filed in January, 2022.

Agents identified a local distributor named Joseph Hooker, who would frequently travel to Cheyenne or Colorado to obtain methamphetamine to distribute in Natrona County. The investigation of Hooker led to his arrest, conviction and a 15-year sentence for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possessing firearms during a drug trafficking crime, according to federal court records.

During the investigation of Hooker, agents learned he worked with Gutierrez to bring methamphetamine into Wyoming.

In August 2021, law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant at Gutierrez's residence in Cheyenne, where they found firearms, ammunition, small quantities of suspected methamphetamine, suspected fentanyl pills and drug paraphernalia.

They also found a rocking chair with "'Mr. H20 Meth Kingpin'" written on it.

Gutierrez asked an agent why he was being charged in Casper because he didn't live there.

This was not his first encounter in a federal drug case. in 2009, Gutierrez was sentenced in Wyoming federal court to seven years imprisonment after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

After his release, he had several drug supply sources, including one who fronted him five pounds of methamphetamine. Gutierrez distributed the drug, but gambled away the proceeds and didn't pay his supplier, which meant he had to pay his supplier upfront.

A confidential source told law enforcement that one time Gutierrez took an AR-15 rifle and two pistols to trade for methamphetamine with a source in Thornton, Colorado.

The confidential source also said that Gutierrez "'ran a gun ring'" in Cheyenne.

Gutierrez often traded firearms for methamphetamine because he sometimes had trouble coming up with cash.

After calculating the values of the transactions, the agent who wrote the criminal complaint estimated that Hooker and Gutierrez traded from six pounds to nine pounds of methamphetamine.

 

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