Woman who had drug charges dropped in wake of scandal arrested again
A 22-year-old Wheeling woman was charged with selling cocaine near a park and ordered held on $100,000 bail Thursday.
Marleny Gutierrez, of the 800 block of McHenry Road, was charged with delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a park, a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors say Gutierrez sold an undercover Mount Prospect police officer 2 grams of cocaine for $120 on Jan. 25.
After her arrest, Gutierrez admitted she had been selling cocaine for seven years, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Gbenga Longe.
Gutierrez's criminal background includes a 2013 conviction for aggravated DUI for which she was sentenced to two years in prison. In 2012, she received 24 months' probation for a drug-related offense, Longe said.
She was also charged in 2013 with selling marijuana, but those charges were dropped in the wake of a scandal involving three former undercover Schaumburg police officers.
Gutierrez was one of more than 19 defendants whose arrests involved former Schaumburg undercover officers John Cichy, Matthew Hudak and Terrance O'Brien. The former officers were arrested in January 2013 on charges of drug conspiracy, delivery of a controlled substance, armed violence and theft after, authorities allege, they skimmed money and drugs from arrests they made.
Prosecutors dismissed charges against select defendants citing concerns about the officers' credibility.
Gutierrez next appears in court on April 23.