Bauer bail in holdup set at $50G cash

Armed robbery suspect Ronald Bauer walks toward his meeting with the judge and prosecutor in Strafford County Superior Court today. Below, looking down after the meeting. (Harrison Thorp photos) Bottom, Susan Gutierrez

DOVER - Lebanon shooting suspect Ronald Bauer was arraigned in Strafford County Superior Court today on a separate armed robbery charge from Somersworth in the holdup of an Irving gas station on Route 108 in December.

Bauer, who was indicted in April by a York County grand jury in the Lebanon shooting in January that left a man paralyzed, was indicted on the New Hampshire charges last month.

Bauer has ties to the area and grew up in Dover.

Clean shaven and manacled, he stood silently as a $50,000 bail order was ordered by the judge, then sat quietly with his head down in the back of the courtroom while awaiting transport back to the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord where he has been held since his arrest on fugitive from justice charges about a week after the Lebanon shooting.

A Strafford County prosecutor ran off a list of convictions in New Hampshire and Massachusetts for the judge as well as the Maine indictment in the home invasion.

Included in the current list of three felony charges is armed career criminal, a special felony which could keep Bauer, 48, in jail for up to 40 years.

Bauer is expected to be incarcerated on the parole violation until late next year, then could face extradition to Maine for the Lebanon shooting or face the Granite State charges from the alleged Somersworth gas station holdup, or both.

In the Lebanon shooting, Bauer is said to have entered the home to steal money and other items to fuel his drug habit, then shot the homeowner who confronted him as he returned home for lunch.       

Bauer is then alleged to have stolen the man’s car and driven it to a Rochester shopping plaza where he ditched it and made his getaway with girlfriend Susan Gutierrez in her vehicle.

The two were arrested in Somersworth about a week later. Interviews subsequent to the arrest led to the charges in the gas station robbery, police said.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez, 48, charged as an accomplice in the Lebanon shooting, awaits an August pretrial appearance in York County Superior Court. She is currently housed at the York County jail in Alfred where her bail is set at $400,000.