AURORA | Police and prosecutors continued to search Wednesday for an Aurora taekwondo instructor who skipped town just before a jury convicted him of
sexually assaulting his underage students.
Law enforcement last saw Raul Alberto Gutierrez-Hernandez, 31, around 3:45 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Arapahoe County Courthouse in Centennial. Lisa Pinto, a spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County district attorney’s office, said that was just after jurors started deliberating.
The following day, when the verdict came down, prosecutors said Gutierrez-Hernandez told his lawyer he would be there, but he never showed.
Gutierrez-Hernandez is facing between eight years and life in prison for sexually assaulting his female students. Polcie said the girls were between 12 and 16 years old and studied under Gutierrez-Hernandez at the Taekwondo Tegura studio on East Sixth Avenue near Salida Street. The studio used to be at 638 Peoria St.
Before skipping court, Gutierrez-Hernandez had been free on $50,000 bond since his 2011 arrest. But prosecutors said the warrant issued after he missed court comes with a no-bond hold, meaning he won’t be released before sentencing if he is captured.
He has ties to Mexico where, according to a bio posted on his dojo’s website, where he was a four-time Mexican National Champion and a four time member of the Junior Mexican National Team.