A federal judge ordered a Merrillville woman accused of threatening a witness to be held without bail after hearing evidence Tuesday that she continued to try to contact the witness after her arrest.
Dalia Guerrero’s daughter has also been arrested in connection with the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick said at Guerrero’s detention hearing at U.S. District Court in Hammond.
Guerrero, 39, was arrested about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, just two hours after her son Anton James, 19, of Hammond, was arrested on charges of murder in connection with his alleged activity with the Latin Kings.
Guerrero pleaded not guilty at the hearing to the charge of threat of physical force against a witness.
Hammond Sgt. Christopher Gootee, who is a member of the FBI’s Gang Response Investigative Team, testified at the hearing that when police arrested James at his girlfriend’s home Thursday, his mother left work and came to her son.
“She was very upset; she didn’t believe what he was accused of,” Gootee said of her response to James’ arrest.
Gootee was driving by Hammond High School just two hours later when he saw Guerrero and several other people talking to one of the government’s witnesses.
Gootee testified that he talked with the witness, who told him that someone came to get the witness from summer school at the high school and brought the witness to Guerrero, her daughter Jasmine McMichael and several other people. They told the witness to recant the statement given to police, that they knew what the witness looked like and where the witness lived, and that the witness should watch their back, Gootee said.
“I believe it was a threat to the witness,” Gootee told U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich, adding that the witness was also in fear after talking with Guerrero.
Police arrested Guerrero shortly after, but Gootee said that didn’t stop her from continuing to try to seek out the witness. Gootee said a recorded conversation between Guerrero and McMichael in the Porter County Jail, where Guerrero is being held, revealed that Guerrero asked her daughter if she had found the witness yet. McMichael told her not yet but that she was still working on it, Gootee said.
Guerrero then told her daughter to have a third party try to contact the witness, Gootee testified.
Michael Lambert, attorney for Guerrero, questioned Gootee about whether McMichael had also been charged yet, but Nozick told the court that a complaint had been filed against her Monday and that she was arrested Tuesday.
McMichael, 22, of East Chicago, made her initial appearance Tuesday, according to court records, and is scheduled to appear for a detention and probable cause hearing Thursday.
Nozick argued during the hearing Tuesday that Guerrero should not be released because she was both a flight risk and a danger to the witness. He noted that she missed several hearings related to more minor charges in county court and how often gang members and their families intimidate witnesses by threatening them, which in turn makes investigating gang crimes more difficult.
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“What gives me great concern, she clearly didn’t get the message even after she was arrested,” Nozick said.
Lambert argued that Guerrero posed no risk, as she’s lived all her life in Lake County, works and is the sole provider for her four children.
Rodovich dismissed the government’s concern about Guerrero being a flight risk. However, the fact that she attempted to contact the witness not once but twice “clearly tips the balance,” he said, and he ruled that she be held.
He set her trial date for Sept. 21.