Santa Rosa brothers arrested after police find hash oil lab, guns, cash

Two brothers under investigation for suspected drug sales were arrested Wednesday after police found a hash oil lab while searching their homes, along with guns, marijuana and more than $17,000 in cash, Santa Rosa police officials said.

Abraham Gutierrez, 27, and his younger brother Alexander Gutierrez, 22, were booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of manufacturing a controlled substance, marijuana sales and cultivation, child endangerment and firearm violations, Sgt. John Cregan said. Abraham Gutierrez has a prior felony robbery conviction and is prohibited from having a gun, he said.

Neither man was in custody Thursday morning. They are both suspected members of norteño gangs, according to police.

On Wednesday, detectives found a “sophisticated” hash oil lab at a residence on Cavendish Avenue, with packaged sheets of hash oil - a form of concentrated cannabis - as well as multiple sheets of hash oil being processed on a commercial drying unit in a bedroom, Cregan said.

They also found several hundred used canisters of butane gas and several dozen unused canisters, he said.

Officers seized more than 300 marijuana plants and more than 1 pound of processed pot from inside the residence, as well as a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and 600 rounds of ammunition that had been hidden in a bedroom, Cregan said.

Abraham Gutierrez’s 6-year-old son was present when officers were at the residence, according to police. Cregan said the drug operations were in plain view and “within easy access” of the child.

Detectives also searched a home on Beaver Street where they found 11 pounds of processed pot, two handguns and more than $17,000 in cash.

The guns included a .45-caliber semiautomatic weapon and a .38-caliber revolver, which had been reported stolen from Arizona, police said.

Police said they also found evidence the hash was being mailed outside California, a lucrative practice worth thousands of dollars in profit because of the high value of cannabis products outside the state.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.