Gutierrez, who was director of the National Investigations Debarment (DNI) in Puerto Plata, was arrested after testifying in the National District 3rd Collegiate Court  that he didn’t participate in a meeting where Lugo handed Baquero the 50 million pesos, despite that five witnesses testified to the contrary.

The retired officer was arrested once the prosecutors did their cross-examination.

Gutiérrez was involved in a case that reached the Supreme Court into documents forgery in the real estate jurisdiction, where employees, officials and lawyers of the Registrar of Titles were also charged.

Baquero was also charged in today’s proceedings and faces forgery charges for swindling Lugo with fake titles of property.

News Update October 27, 2010

Ten years in prison for bilking Baltimore Oriole Julio Lugo

A National District sentenced Edwin Baquero to spend 10 years in prison and pay Baltimore Orioles player Julio Lugo RD$100 million in damages.

The 3rd Collegiate Court’s Penal Chamber found Baquero guilty of defrauding Lugo out of RD$50 million (US$1.4 million), conspiracy and forgery against the major leaguer, in the sale of a 4,910 square meter lot in the upscale sector Las Praderas.

The court also sentenced him to pay RD$20 million in damages to the company Inesmar, as well as RD$5 million to the land’s registered proprietor.

The codefendant Luis Manuel Ruiz Méndez was sentenced to three years in prison but the Court suspended the conviction under the condition that he reside in a fixed address.

The prosecution had requested 20 years in jail for Baquero and two years for Ruiz Méndez, while Lugo’s lawyers asked the court to order the return of the RD$50 million, and RD$125 million in damages.