70°
Elmer Gutierrez, age 21, of Valley Stream, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison on Tuesday, Aug. 10, according to Acting Nassau County District Attorney Joyce Smith.
The DA's Office said Gutierrez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree conspiracy on June 24.
“Elmer Gutierrez helped to orchestrate the murders of both Ian Cruz and Harold Sermeno and dealt the final blow in Sermeno’s murder, slicing his neck with a machete after the 17-year old was shot five times in the head and chest,” Smith said. “This despicable gang violence, spanning Nassau and Queens counties, will not be tolerated, and defendants like Gutierrez will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for their crimes.
" I thank our partners at the NYPD, NCPD, Queens District Attorney’s Office and FBI Long Island Gang Task Force for helping solve these murders.”
In July of 2020, his co-defendant, Yonathan Sanchez, was sentenced to 34 years to life in prison.
The case against co-defendant 21-year-old Carlos Guerra is pending, along with cases against two people who were juveniles at the time of the crime.
Another defendant who was a juvenile at the time of the crime pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is sentenced to eight-and-a-half years to life in prison.
On Dec. 15, 2018, Ian Cruz, age 23, of Far Rockaway, was lured to Bayswater Point State Park, where he was shot four times by Sanchez, according to an indictment.
The DA's Office said Cruz had met a juvenile defendant there, while Sanchez, another juvenile defendant and allegedly Guerra hid while armed with knives.
The DA's Office said Cruz was killed because he was a perceived enemy of MS-13.
Cruz's body was found by a park-goer the following day.
Smith said Gutierrez helped plan the murder, but he wasn't able to be there that night.
The DA's office said 17-year-old Harold Sermeno, of Far Rockaway, was murdered on the evening of Dec. 17, 2018, after he was lured to the Five Towns Community Center in Lawrence.
He arrived there with a juvenile defendant when five other defendants who were armed with a gun and knives waited around the park. Smith said Sanchez shot Sermeno four times, and Gutierrez cut his neck with a machete.
Sermeno's body was found the next morning by a person walking a dog.
Police arrested Sanchez, Guerra, Gutierrez and two juveniles on Dec. 20, 2018 in Far Rockaway, the DA's Office said. The other juvenile defendant was arrested on Dec. 28, 2018.
Assisting agencies in the case included:
- The New York Police Department
- Nassau County Police Department
- Queens County District Attorney’s Office
- The FBI Long Island Gang Task Force
Click here to follow Daily Voice Massapequa and receive free news updates.
