MARTINEZ — Two alleged Concord gang members have accepted plea deals and prison sentences spanning more than a decade in a 2014 homicide that became part of a massive investigation into the Sureño gang, court records show.
Juan Barocio Jr., 29, and Rafael Arturo Lopez, 34, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the April 2014 shooting death of 18-year-old Victor Gutierrez. In return, Barocio received an 11-year prison term and Lopez was sentenced to 12 years.
Gutierrez, an Antioch resident, was fatally shot on the evening of April 15, 2014, while walking on the 1600 block of Adelaide Street in Concord. Police ultimately determined Barocio and Lopez were simply driving around the city looking for potential rivals to shoot.
Charging records alleged that Barocio drove a van to and from the scene of the crime, and that Lopez used a pistol equipped with a laser sight to open fire at Gutierrez after spotting him walking by. Police have not said whether Gutierrez really was a rival gang member or if he was simply mistaken for one.
Lopez and Barocio were among dozens of suspected Sureños arrested in a massive 2020 investigation aimed at a Monument Boulevard-based subset of the gang. As part of the probe, dubbed Operation Boulevard Blues, police made arrests in four homicides and charged others with drug and gun trafficking. The investigation involved getting high-ranking members of the gang to flip and cooperate with police, as well as multiple wiretaps that exposed infighting and violent crimes involving several cliques of the Sureños.
The Sureño gang, based in Southern California, has a heavy presence in Concord, Brentwood, and the Richmond area. Members of a Vallejo-based subset were also arrested in the investigation, court records show.
Both men are in Pleasant Valley State Prison. Barocio is eligible for parole in 2027 and Lopez will be eligible in 2029, records show. The plea deals were finalized last June but have not been previously reported.
Source: www.mercurynews.com