Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Three alleged gang members from Venezuela face charges for aggravated burglary and assault.
- They reportedly threatened four people at gunpoint.
- Victims claim they were forced into prostitution, with ongoing investigations into these allegations.
MILLCREEK — Three people who police say are part of a transnational criminal organization from Venezuela are accused of breaking into a home and threatening the occupants at gunpoint.
Pablo Jose Fernandez Gil, 34; Raquel Yudith Fagundez Pitire, 36, of West Valley City; and Kender Alberto Brieo Quijada, 18, were each charged Friday in 3rd District Court with aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony; and five counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony. Each charge is subject to gang-enhancement penalties at sentencing if convicted, according to court records.
While responding to a report of a burglary on Nov. 1, Unified police officers reported spotting the vehicle of the intruders near 3900 South and 700 West and pulled it over. Gil, Quijada and Pitire were all taken into custody.
"Investigators confirmed that Pitire, Gil and Quijada are part of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization," according to charging documents.
As detectives sorted through what had happened, they said they learned that the trio had barged into a residence and pointed guns at the four people inside. "Gil told everyone he was going to kill them if they did not leave their girls alone," one witness told police, according to the charges.
Prosecutors further noted in the court documents that Gil "proceeded to rack the handgun he was pointing at the victims and told them that he would kill them. (He) then told one victim he was marked because he had messed with (their) girls."
Gil, Pitire and Quijada were looking for a woman, according to police.
Pitire, who is married to Gil, then told the victims that her husband "had been trained in the Venezuelan military and that she was the girls' boss in Utah," according to the charges.
When one of the victims told the trio "to get out of his residence … Pitire responded that she was going to kill him, rob everyone on the property and then shoot him," the charges allege.
Two of the women in the home later told investigators that they "had been forced to do prostitution since arriving in Utah" and that "Pitire and her associates control their lives, what they do, and where they go," charging documents state.
Investigators say they also learned that another person "was being held at a local hotel by Pitire, and that they had been assaulting her." West Valley police were sent to that hotel and found the woman. She told investigators that "Gil tried to shoot her, but it failed so he hit her with the gun on her right temple and then used the handgun to hit her on her left thigh," according to the charges.
The investigation into the prostitution aspect of the case was ongoing as of Friday. Prosecutors say Gil also uses the alias of Brian Hernandez-Castillo, who is a "wanted fugitive," but no other details were provided.
