Trial opens in 2016 Windsor armored car heist

Ivan Morales and Sergey Gutsu were partners in crime well before they robbed an armored car in Windsor last year, shot the guard and fled to Calistoga, where they were caught after an intense manhunt, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The two childhood friends, originally from the Southern California town of Arcadia, robbed an armored car in Granada Hills about three months earlier, making off with $40,000 and going on a shopping spree, prosecutor Chris Honigsberg said in opening trial statements.

In the weeks leading up to the July 12 robbery of the Loomis truck in Windsor’s Lakewood Village shopping center, the men, both 25, began plotting their next score, Honigsberg said.

Morales, of Lake County, researched whether it was better to rob an armored car or a bank and whether an AK-47 would penetrate bulletproof glass, the prosecutor said.

Meanwhile, Gutsu, from Antelope carjacked a man in Sacramento, taking a green sports utility vehicle that would be used in the holdup, Honigsberg said.

Communication between the two was captured in thousands of text messages they sent to each other, the prosecutor said.

Included was one from Morales the night before the robbery that said, “Hurry up and get here. We have to get up early in the morning,” the prosecutor said.

“This case is about partners in crime,” Honigsberg told Morales’ six-man, six-woman jury. He repeated the allegation in a second opening statement before Gutsu’s separate jury.

The two panels will begin hearing witness testimony today in a trial expected to last about six weeks.

A chief contention is who exactly shot the guard three times with an AK-47. He survived despite wounds to his shoulder, arm and leg.

Prosecutors say it was Morales, who they said confessed in a taped statement to detectives. Gutsu is suspected of firing a handgun at a Calistoga police officer before the officer rammed his vehicle and arrested him.

Morales’ lawyer, Jenny Andrews, told jurors that Gutsu shot the guard. She suggested he coerced Morales into participating in the robbery and other schemes by threatening him and his wife. His confession was forced after a 16-hour interrogation, she said.

“Ivan Morales didn’t shoot the Loomis guard,” she said. “He didn’t shoot anyone or fire a gun.”

Jurors will also hear a taped confession from Gutsu, who admitted shooting at the officer but maintains Morales shot the guard.

Both men face life in prison if convicted of all charges in the trial before Judge Patrick Broderick. The guard and other witnesses are expected to testify.

The trial kicked off under increased security attributed to the alleged shooting at a police officer. Gutsu, who is suspected in the 2015 murder of a San Dimas sandwich shop owner, will be confined to his chair by shackles not visible to the jury.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 707-568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.