FUGITIVE SOUGHT IN CATHEDRAL CITY MURDER FOUND IN MEXICO

INDIO – A Coachella man, who is the third defendant in a 2018 murder in Cathedral City, has been located in Mexico and returned to Riverside County for a scheduled arraignment today, March 11, 2020. 

Guillermo Cintora Gomez, DOB: 8-23-95, fled to Mexico after the murder and was located and arrested by authorities there last week. He is scheduled to be arraigned today at 1:30 p.m. in Dept. 3N at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. 

The murder of Jason Rosas of Indio happened the early morning hours of June 13, 2018, outside the Showgirls gentleman’s club on Perez Road in Cathedral City during a gang-related confrontation. Two other men were shot but survived. 

The investigation by the Cathedral City Police Department led to the identification of three men as suspects in the shooting. Later in June 2018, the Riverside County Gang Impact Team (GIT), which is supervised by the DA’s Bureau of Investigation, arrested Christian Orlando Miramontes, DOB: 9-28-93; and Manuel Adolfo Vargas Jr., DOB: 6-1-88, in connection with the murder and attempted murders.  

The DA’s Office has charged all three defendants with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder. All three defendants also have at least one special circumstance allegation attached to the murder count, making them eligible for the death penalty. A decision whether to seek death will be made at a later date by DA Mike Hestrin. 

In mid-September 2019, Cathedral City police developed information that Gomez – who is a United States citizen -- fled to Ixtlan de los Hervores, in Michoacan, Mexico where he has family. GIT personnel then forwarded that information to the U.S. Marshals Office which began an investigation in Mexico. 

On March 5, 2020, DA’s Office investigators assigned to GIT received a telephone call from the Marshals Office in Mexico City that Gomez had been arrested by Instituto Nacional de Migracion (INAMI) police without incident.  The next day, members of GIT met with INAMI police at Los Angeles International Airport and took Gomez into custody. He was booked at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on the murder warrant. 

The Gang Impact Team is supervised by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and staffed with investigators and agents from the DA’s Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Border Patrol, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations Special Services Unit, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department; and detectives from the Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Beaumont, Banning, Hemet, and Corona Police Departments.   

The case, INF1801051, is being prosecuted by Managing Deputy DA Anthony Fimbres.