Ex-Milton man arrested in Lebanon shooting indicted in separate robbery

Ronald Bauer and Susan Gutierrez

A former Milton man who was arrested in January in a Lebanon shooting that left a man paralyzed has been indicted by a Strafford County grand jury in connection with an armed robbery in Somersworth just 10 days before the Lebanon incident.

Ronald Bauer, 48, with an address on the indictment of 373 Micah Terrace, is charged with three counts in the Somersworth robbery, which occurred at an Irving gas station on Dec. 28.

According to the indictment, Bauer pointed a firearm at an individual in the store during the commission of the crime.

The June indictment charges him with armed robbery, use of a firearm by a convicted felon and being an armed career criminal, a Special Felony that could keep him in prison for up to 40 years if found guilty.

According to the indictment, Bauer has already been convicted of a combination of three or more felonies in the Granite State under burglary, robbery and controlled drug laws.

It was on Jan. 8 that he and his girlfriend, Susan Gutierrez, also 48, are alleged to have together decided to rob a house in Lebanon in an attempt to steal money.

While Gutierrez waited in her car in an East Rochester coffeeshop parking lot, Bauer is said to have entered a Second Street home in Lebanon, and while looking for money and merchandise to steal, been surprised by the homeowner returning home for lunch.

During the confrontation that followed Bauer allegedly shot the homeowner, then stole his SUV and met up with Gutierrez in the Market Basket Plaza on Milton Road. They ditched the SUV behind Big Lots and were not seen again until their arrest about a week later at an Indigo Hill Road residence in Somersworth on fugitive from justice charges in connection with the Lebanon incident.

Bauer was sent back to a New Hampshire prison on a parole violation and Gutierrez remains in the York County Jail in Alfred awaiting trial in York County Superior Court for her part in the Lebanon burglary.

She is charged with elevated aggravated assault, a Class A felony; and hindering apprehension, a Class B felony. She pleaded not guilty to the charges in April and is awaiting her next court appearance in August. Her bail is set at $400,000.

Bauer became a suspect in the Irving gas station robbery after he was interviewed by Somersworth Police after his arrest on Jan. 16, according to Somersworth Police Captain David Kretschmar. Bauer was formally charged by Somersworth Police on Feb. 25.

Gutierrez has not been charged in the gas station case.

Bauer has yet to be arraigned on the Maine charges.

Meanwhile, the victim in the Lebanon shooting is said to remain paralyzed from the mid-chest down.