A 26-year-old Yuma man waiting to be released from the Pinal County Adult Detention Center attacked a guard last week in order to remain in custody, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday. Alexandro Guerrero told authorities that he was afraid the drug cartels were going to kill him when released, leading him to attack a detention officer, said sheriff's spokesman Tim Gaffney. Guerrero claimed he used to sell drugs to make money and got involved with a drug cartel in Mexico called Los Zetas, the sheriff's spokesman said. At some point, Guerrero said the cartel labeled him as a snitch after learning he was leaking information about the gang to an unspecified law- enforcement agency. Guerrero told officers the cartel put a “hit” on him to be killed.
While waiting to be released April 17 Guerrero punched a detention officer in the face, Gaffney said. He then continued to punch and kick the officer, knocking him to the ground. Gaffney said several other staff members had to restrain Guerrero until they were able to handcuff him. Guerrero was booked back into the Pinal County Adult Detention Center on three counts of aggravated assault on a detention officer. He is currently being held on a $50,000 cash only bail. The detention officer suffered a broken nose and required numerous stitches for a wound on his face, Gaffney said.
"The ripple effect and impact of the Mexican drug cartels are felt within our jails," Pinal Sheriff Paul Babeu said in a press release. "This criminal brutally assaulted one of our finest detention officers because (an inmate) had a death threat against himself and he believed he would be killed by the cartels upon his release. Our deputies and detention officers already have a very difficult job and it is made tougher by the impact of drug and human smuggling."
By: Greg Benson
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