How key pipeline protester dodged prison while leading double life

Anti-pipeline activist Pedro Rabago Gutierrez, AKA Pete Hefflin, at a march Anti-pipeline activist Pedro Rabago Gutierrez, AKA Pete Hefflin, at a march Photo: Courtesy Presidio County Sheriff's Office Photo: Courtesy Presidio County Sheriff's Office Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close How key pipeline protester dodged prison while leading double life 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Pete Hefflin was a leader of the Texas environmental movement. He fought against pipeline companies, decried corporate greed, and helped open the largest protest camp in West Texas aimed at blocking the Trans-Pecos pipeline.

But as Hefflin talked about protecting sensitive natural resources for the future, he was hiding his past. This week, at a pipeline protest in Presidio County, sheriff's deputies arrested him, fingerprinted him and confirmed that they had in custody not Pete Hefflin, but Pedro Rabago Gutierrez, a man arrested and imprisoned multiple times in California for serious crimes - rape and drug dealing among them - before fleeing the state at least 10 years ago as a wanted man.

The arrest stunned protesters at the camp, where he was the head of security, and sent the environmental groups with which the man worked into damage control.

"He was part of our circle. He was part of our family," said Frankie Orona, executive director of the Society of Native Nations, a San Antonio-based environment and American Indian advocacy group at which Gutierrez was a member of the board of directors. "But then again, we've always been about holding people accountable, and in this situation, he was definitely wrong. I am upset with him."

The Sierra Club said it, too, was surprised by the news, but urged the protest to continue, noting that the Trans-Pecos pipeline was within two months of completion. "We don't see it as something that will deter the movement," said Vanessa Ramos, a spokeswoman for the environmental nonprofit. "This is much bigger than one person."

Energy Transfer Partners, the Dallas company building Trans-Pecos, declined to comment.

Gutierrez, 56, has a long criminal history, according to the California Department of Corrections. In 1984, he was sentenced to nine years for forcible rape, seven years for forcible oral sex and three years for possession of a controlled substance with an intent to sell, the California Department of Corrections said. He served the sentences concurrently and got out of prison about six years later, released on parole.

Between 1990 and 1997, he was reimprisoned at least five times for parole violations, according to corrections records, and in 1998, was convicted of having sex with a minor under 18. He went back to jail, but gained parole again in April of 2002. The California Department of Corrections never heard from him again.

It's unclear when Gutierrez resurfaced in Texas as Pete Hefflin, but four months ago, he galvanized the movement to block the Trans-Pecos pipeline.

At a November meeting of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission, Gutierrez and about 100 other activists gathered to protest the pipeline, which runs from near Pecos to Mexico and by Big Bend Ranch State Park. Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, sits on the commission.

At the meeting, the activists lined up to address the commission. Most spoke of the beauty of West Texas and the ruin of the pipeline's construction. But only one - Gutierrez - got Warren to agree to meet in person.

The meeting never happened. Gutierrez lambasted Warren on social media. "You're a coward and I'm calling you out," he said in a Facebook video.

In December, Texas activists, following the example of protesters trying to block another Energy Transfer project, the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota, worked to open three West Texas camps. Gutierrez helped set up one, Two Rivers camp, on private land near Big Bend Ranch State Park, and became the camp's head of ceremonies and of security.

Gutierrez, who lives with his wife in the Houston area, was the leader who stayed most often at the camp, other activists said, and became well-loved.

But, about two months ago, a Presidio County Sheriff's deputy got a tip that Gutierrez, still known as Hefflin, was wanted in California under a warrant issued in 2007, according to the sheriff's office incident report.

That day, as Gutierrez waited for his wife to get out of jail after a protest, the deputy, Angel Velasquez, asked to see Gutierrez' identification. He gave the officer a Social Security card. Velasquez let Gutierrez go, but checked the card. It came back as a fake.

On Sunday, Velasquez ran into Gutierrez again.

Protesters had gathered at a pipeline construction site near Elephant Rock by the old ghost town of Shafter, the incident report said. Velasquez called it in, and the state told him to arrest Gutierrez.

Protesters quickly surrounded Velasquez, stabbing their fingers, yelling and demanding to see the warrant. Several deputies stood by, including Sheriff Danny Dominguez, whose body camera caught the whole incident. Velasquez loaded Gutierrez into a truck and drove off.

"They bark like little Chihuahua dogs," Dominguez said in an interview. "But they don't got no bite."

The deputies took Gutierrez to the border patrol checkpoint, 30 miles away, to take his fingerprints. Gutierrez admitted who he was, the incident report said.

Gutierrez is being held in Presidio County jail, awaiting his return to California. Some protesters, while shocked, hate that his criminal history was dredged up.

Lori Glover, founder of the Big Bend Defense Coalition and owner of the land on which the Two Rivers camp sits, said the penal system was cruel and vengeful.

"He served his time, made a new start," she said. "I was unaware of any of this past history. Despite that, I feel very privileged to have worked with Pete Hefflin."