California EMT Accused of Crimes Sidelined

Solano County and San Francisco Fire Department officials took separate steps Thursday to sideline a first responder with a history of stalking women and arrests for alleged child sexual abuse, indecent exposure, spouse battering and vandalism.

San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White reassigned emergency medical technician-firefighter Timothy Lee Gutierrez, 39, of Fairfield to a desk job from his post at a fire station to limit his contact with the public until his criminal cases are over.

Solano County officials also asked Gutierrez to surrender his county-issued EMT certification card by noon today or they will suspend it, saying that his off-duty arrests and alleged sexual misbehavior are incompatible with his status as a first responder.

"I'm not comfortable allowing him to continue practicing," Solano Emergency Medical Services Director Michael Frenn said. "Even in the absence of a conviction, there appears to be a pattern of behavior that causes us concern."

Denis Honeychurch, an attorney representing the EMT-firefighter, declined comment. Gutierrez has denied wrongdoing.

The moves come nine days after The Bee reported that Gutierrez was working as an EMT-firefighter in one county while facing four sets of criminal charges in another, despite a prosecutor's 2006 warning that he was "a very serious risk to the community."

The case highlighted weaknesses with the state's patchwork certification and licensing system for EMTs, causing state Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, to say that citizens are not being sufficiently protected from potentially rogue rescuers.

Ashburn has introduced a Senate bill calling for statewide licensure for all EMTs and mandatory criminal background checks, beginning in 2009.

Since December 2005, Gutierrez has been arrested and charged with continuous child sexual abuse, assaulting and injuring a former wife and vandalizing her car and refusing to obey a domestic relations court order in a case with another woman, court records show.

Two women also sought and obtained separate civil restraining orders against him after alleging in court records that he stalked and harassed them.

Gutierrez was convicted in 2001 for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. That conviction was dismissed in 2004 after he completed probation.

His most recent arrest was May 14 when Fairfield police zapped him with a Taser after an apartment manager reported a fully dressed man fondling himself at the complex. When officers arrived, Gutierrez fled, jumping three fences and hiding in bushes until he was subdued, Lt. Al Bagos said.

Gutierrez was charged with causing a public nuisance through indecent behavior, loitering and resisting arrest, court documents show.

Prior to The Bee report, Solano County and San Francisco fire officials said loopholes in the law prevented them from taking action against Gutierrez because his arrests occurred off-duty.

The Emergency Medical Services Authority also said it had no power to intervene because counties certify the state's 70,000 EMTs. California is the lone state where that happens.

But San Francisco Fire Department's Lt. Mindy Talmadge said Hayes-White took a fresh look at the case after The Bee report and chose to reassign Gutierrez to a desk job in the fire marshal's office.

Firefighters also were upset about the department's failure to remove Gutierrez from the field, Talmadge said.

On Monday, Woodmont Real Estate Services, a Fairfield apartment complex owner, filed documents in Solano Superior Court to get another restraining order against Gutierrez, alleging he was involved in "at least seven instances of lewd behavior" at its Pointe Apartments.

Property manager Terri McKee said in a sworn declaration that she saw Gutierrez performing a lewd act inside the complex clubhouse in 2005 as he watched two small children swimming in a pool. He fled when she threatened to call police, McKee stated.

Without a court order to keep him 500 yards away, Woodmont attorney Michael Cheng said, property managers fear Gutierrez's behavior will continue and he will become violent if confronted.

The case will be heard June 13.

To read The Bee's ongoing investigation on paramedics and EMTs, go to: www.sacbee.com/paramedics

The Bee's Andrew McIntosh can be reached at (916) 321-1215 or amcintosh@sacbee.com

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