Robbery Suspect Wins Trip to Jail When He Collects Stolen Lottery Ticket Prizes

Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story featured a photo misidentifying the suspect.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA - A 42-year-old Fountain Valley man was behind bars today on suspicion of robbing at least three Garden Grove stores, but investigators suspect he hit dozens more businesses in northern Orange County cities.

Jose Angel Gutierrez was arrested Tuesday and booked on suspicion of three robberies, Garden Grove Lt. Bob Bogue said.

Santa Ana police suspect he robbed four businesses in that city, based on evidence collected from a search warrant served at Gutierrez's home, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Investigators suspect the string of robberies began last November, Bogue said. In most of the robberies, the suspect wore a mask, but his apparent undoing was cashing in lottery tickets without donning a mask, Bertagna said.

"In one (robbery), we have him taking lottery tickets," he said. "Well, obviously, those things are numbered. Then we ran the numbers and we got winners. So we got video of when the guy collected the winnings and that's how we got a face. That's how we started getting the guy identified."

When police served a search warrant at Gutierrez's home about 8 a.m. Tuesday, they found a sawed-off shotgun, two handguns and illegal narcotics, Bogue said.

Gutierrez was arrested a few hours later in Stanton in a vehicle that investigators suspect was used in the holdups, Bogue said. When he was taken into custody, he was in possession of a loaded handgun that police believe was used in the robberies, Bogue said.

The most recent robbery in which he is suspected occurred about 4 a.m. Tuesday at a 7-Eleven convenience store at 11011 Brookhurst St., Bogue said.

The other two heists for which he was booked occurred on Feb. 13, Bogue said. One was about 5 a.m. at 12971 Nelson St., where he got away with cash and lottery tickets, and the other was at 5:11 a.m. at 8982 Chapman Ave., Bogue said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if this guy did 20 or 30 of them," he said.

Investigators were working to determine if the suspect could be involved in robberies in Fountain Valley, Tustin, Orange and Westminster, Bogue said.

City News Service