Weird news out of West Texas, where the Houston Chronicle‘s David Hunn reports that Peter Hefflin, a Sierra Club affiliate and semi-influential figure in the Trans-Pecos Pipeline protest community, is not actually Peter Hefflin. The person using that name turns out to be Pedro Rabago Gutierrez. And it turns out Gutierrez boasts quite a lengthy rap sheet. In 1984, the 56-year-old was sentenced to nine years in prison for forcible rape, seven years for forcible oral sex, and three years for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. He was reportedly re-imprisoned for violating terms of parole at least five times between 1990 and 1997, then one year later went back to jail after being found guilty of having sex with a minor. All that happened in California, whose Department of Corrections hasn’t heard from him since he gained parole in April 2002. Gutierrez got popped most recently after Presidio County Sheriff’s Deputy Angel Velasquez received a tip that Hefflin wasn’t actually Hefflin. Authorities arrested him outside the county jail where he was waiting for the release of his wife, a fellow protester.
This article appears in March 10 • 2017.