Prosecutors: Teen confessed to role in Piero’s restaurant bombing

A teen who is among five people accused in last month’s explosion at Piero’s Italian Cuisine confessed to “the entire operation,” prosecutors said Thursday.

Joseph Gutierrez, 18, was arrested Friday in Arizona and faces multiple arson-related charges after a pipe bomb hidden inside a gas can was placed outside the restaurant on Nov. 13.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Eckley Keach also said that a boy, identified as the fifth suspect, has been arrested.

A grand jury previously indicted Gutierrez’s mother, Sarah Hernandez, 34, along with John Navarro, 35, and Phillip Gonzales, 54. They were indicted a week after the blast on charges that include manufacturing or possessing an explosive or incendiary device, first-degree arson, and conspiracy to commit first-degree arson.

Keach only identified the juvenile offender by the initials “J.R.” and said that the boy has an open case in Family Court.

Prosecutors said that Hernandez and Gonzales acted as “planners,” finding the materials and people to carry out the explosion while Gutierrez, Navarro, and “J.R.” transported the bomb, placing it in front of the restaurant, lighting it, and fleeing.

Keach said that although the bomb produced a small explosion, it was intended to have a “massive detonation effect.”

“Joseph Gutierrez straddles the line between the planners and the executors, and the evidence of Joseph Gutierrez’s involvement is overwhelming in this case,” said Keach. “We now have a clear picture of what happened at Piero’s bombing. This was a broad criminal network of individuals who came together to plan and execute a large bombing.”

Gutierrez, who has ties to Arizona, fled there after the explosion, prosecutors said. After Navarro was arrested, Gonzalez and Hernandez also went into hiding until police found them last week.

Keach asked that bail for the four adult suspects be increased to $500,000, and the judge granted it.

“They have the predisposition to flee,” Keach added.”Given that they’ve gone into hiding following the bombing and given the scope and nature of the design of this device, it is both terrifying to state what could have happened, and it’s illustrative of the intent of what they wanted to do in damaging that building on the Strip.”

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.