OREGON CITY, Ore., April 6 (UPI) -- A Honduran immigrant has admitted the bungled kidnapping of 87-year-old Columbia Sportswear Chairwoman Gert Boyle at her home in Oregon.
Nestor Gabriel Caballero Gutierrez, 40, faces 14 1/2 years in prison, The (Portland) Oregonian reported. He entered a guilty plea Tuesday in Clackamas County and is to be sentenced April 14.
Boyle, who built her parents' small company into a major manufacturer and retailer, foiled the kidnapping herself. When Caballero Gutierrez held her at gunpoint, she told him she needed to disable the alarm system and then hit the silent panic alarm.
A co-defendant, Jose Luis Arevalo, 47, a Guatemalan national, pleaded guilty last month. Ramon Alberto Midence, 40, from Honduras agreed to a plea bargain last week but prosecutors withdrew the offer.
All three men were in the country legally.
Prosecutors said they had a strong case against Caballeros Gutierrez, including testimony from his co-defendants. Boyle herself was expected to testify.
"These criminals maliciously altered my life, and I am just sick about it every day," Boyle said in an impact statement filed last month.
